84 



Bird Notes and News 



must promise to raise no objection to 

 the use of any plumage unless the species 

 is "in danger of extermination or serious 

 reduction ; " to support, directly or 

 indirectly, no Bill unless it legislates 

 for the whole continent as well as for 

 that part of Europe controlled by the 

 British ParUament ; to discourage " irre- 

 sponsible attacks " on the trade (irre- 

 sponsible persons being no doubt all 

 those not engaged in or allied with the 

 trade) ; to deny in the Press any charges 

 which this committee may find to be 

 untrue or unfounded (this committee, 

 it will be remembered, consisting of all 

 who choose to accept these conditions) ; 

 and to refrain from " aU attacks on 

 the trade during the accumulation of 

 evidence." In plain words, they are 

 to deliver themselves, bound and gagged, 

 to the feather merchants. 



What the Secretary of the Selbome 

 Society is doing in this milieu as co- 

 secretary with Mr. Bensusan, and how 

 the committee comes to send out its 

 circulars from the Selborne Society's 

 office, is a problem to be considered by 

 members of that society. 



The one clear and plain fact, which 

 stands out more strongly than ever, 

 is that legislation to protect birds against 

 the trade which has for thirty years 

 been decimating them, is the essential 

 thing to-day. The flotation of schemes 

 or dreams of " economic preservation " 

 must be pushed aside by every one 

 interested in the sHghtest degree in the 

 real preservation of birds. 



A COERESPONDENT of the North China 

 Herald, writing from Yunnan, in March 

 last, says : — 



" A disastrous crusade is being made 

 against the beautiful Golden Pheasants 

 M'hich are so well kncvm in West Chiaa. 

 The word has gone forth that their skins 



are sought after by foreigners, and at the 

 present rate of slaughter this bird is on the 

 way to rapid extinction. It is a blot on 

 western civilisation that artificial beauty 

 should be purchased by the final destruction 

 of so much natural beauty." 



A large quantity of Golden Pheasants, and 

 also of Lady Amherst Pheasants, another 

 Chinese species, were offered at the 

 London feather-sale in the present month, 

 together with Silver, Numidian, and 

 Japanese Pheasants, and the Impeyan 

 and Argus Pheasants of India. These, it 

 will be observed, are wild birds, not 

 feathers from poulterers' shops. Having 

 decimated the wild birds so that they 

 no longer pay for the hunting, the trade 

 might possibly regard the formation 

 of private breeding preserves for trade 

 purposes as ample atonement for the 

 sacking of nature. 



THE U.S.A. TARIFF BILL. 



A striking feature of the new Tariff 

 Bill of the United States is the provision, 

 drafted by the New York Zoological 

 Society, absolutely prohibiting importa- 

 tion of the plumage of wild birds into 

 the States. After long and careful de- 

 Uberation, and hearing of evidence, the 

 following clause has been accepted, with- 

 out alteration, by the Ways and Means 

 Committee of Congress : — 



" Provided that the importation of 

 aigrettes, egret plumes, or ' osprey ' plumes, 

 and the feathers, quills, heads, wings, tails, 

 skins, or parts of skins, of wild birds, either 

 raw or manufactured, and not for scientific 

 or educational purposes, is hereby prohibited ; 

 but this provision shall not apply to the 

 feathers or plumes of ostriches, or to the 

 feathers of domestic fowls of any kind." 



The traffic has few friends in America 

 and no advocates except those engaged 

 in it. In supporting the clause before 

 the committee, the Director of the New 

 York Zoological Park, Dr. Hornaday, 



