98 



Bird Notes and News 



(3) The Board of Trade may grant a 

 licence under such conditions and regulations 

 as they think fit to any person to import 

 specimens of birds for any natural history 

 or other museum, or for the purpose of 

 scientific research. 



(4) Any importer claiming an exemption 

 under this section for any plumage on the 

 ground that it is to be put to a certain use 

 shall deliver to an officer of Customs and 

 Excise, if required by any such officer, on 

 importation a written declaration of the 

 purpose for which it is imported. 



3. Where the court is satisfied, in any 

 proceedings under this Act, that any plumage 

 is the j^lumage of a bird which is never or 

 rarely found alive in a wild state in the 

 United Kingdom, the plumage shall be 

 deemed to be imported in contravention 

 of this Act unless the contrary is proved. 



" Plumage " includes the skin or body 

 of a bird with plumage on it ; and 

 " sell " includes exchange or letting out 



on hire. The birds scheduled by the 

 Bill are Ostriches and Eider Ducks. 



The Bill will probably be re-introduced 

 early in the session of 1914 ; and bird- 

 lovers will do well to remember that it 

 is not passed yet. Although an immense 

 majority of members of both Houses 

 are known to be in favour of such 

 legislation, its opponents will strive to 

 influence their votes by every species 

 of argument, and will naturally do their 

 utmost to hinder, impede, or weaken 

 legislation against that which is to them 

 a lucrative business. All Bird Protectors 

 therefore should be equipped with the 

 facts of the case and should beg their 

 representatives in ParKament to support 

 the Bill. Information and literature can 

 always be had from the Royal Society 

 for the Protection of Birds. 



Bird Protectors v. Plume Traders. 



At this juncture a brief chronological 

 outline of the case may be of use. It 

 indicates to some extent how the evidence 

 of naturalists and others, gradually ac- 

 cumulating, and the opinion of the public 

 gradually developing, have besn ex- 

 pressed in appeal, in protest, and — as 

 these things remained unheeded or de- 

 rided — in more and more stringent laws. 



1868. Professor Newton's protest at the 

 British Association meeting, against 

 the slaughter of Gulls off the British 

 Coast. " Fair and innocent as the 

 snowy plumes may appear in a lady's 

 liat, I must tell the wearer the truth 

 — she bears the murderer's brand on 

 her forehead." 



1869. Sea-Birds Preservation Act passed. 

 1876. Professor Newton's protest in The 



Times against the destruction of 



Egrets and other exotic birds, as 

 demonstrated by the catalogues of 

 the London feather-sales. 



1885. " Plumage League " formed by Lady 

 Mount-Temple. 



1886. American Ornithologists' Union Bird 

 Protection Committee organised (New 

 York). 



First Audubon Society formed (Massa- 

 chusetts). 



1887. Reports published in the Auk (Ameri- 

 can Ornithologists' Union) of the 

 wholesale slaughter of Herons, Ibis, 

 Spoonbills, and other birds, by plume- 

 hunters in Florida. 



1889. The Society (now Royal Society) for 

 the Protection of Birds founded, 

 primarily as an Anti-plumage-wearing 

 League. 



