Bird Notes and News 



19 



The Plume Trade. 



At the Annual Meeting of the R.S.P.B. it 

 was mentioned that an advertisement had 

 appeared in a London paper, from a plume- 

 hmiter or dealer in Celebes, offering Birds-of- 

 Paradise of all qualities and prices. The 

 attention of the Dutch Committee for 

 Prohibition of the Exportation of Birds and 

 Bird-skins from the Dutch Colonies (formed 

 by the Royal Zoological Society of 

 Amsterdam, " Natura Artis Magistra ") was 

 also called to this, in the hope that they 

 might be able to deal wdth the matter. In 

 reply the Society writes to the R.S.P.B., 

 through its President and Secretary, detailing 

 the measures for checking the traffic in 

 New Guinea, and adding : — 



" In our correspondence with Dr. J. C. 

 Koningsberger, Director of 's Lands Planten- 

 tuin at Buitenzorg, Java, and Adviser of the 

 Government in these affairs, this gentleman 

 has more than once laid stress on his opinion 

 that a prohibition of the importation of 

 birds and bird-skins into Europe would be 

 the best way to put an end to bird-hunting. 



" We are of opinion that for the present 

 your country has it in its pcwer completely 

 to stop the trade in bird-siins. It would 

 be quite in the line of the politics of economy 

 adopted by the Allies to forbid all ship- 

 ments of birds and bird-skins to their ports. 

 If no market for the articles can be found 

 either in England, France, Italy, or Russia, 

 the plume-trade would be dead, as Germany 

 cannot get any birds or bird-skins, and as 

 America will not have them. 



" If you could get your Government to 

 take the desired steps, the war would at 

 least have one good result — the abolition of 

 the trade in bird-skins for millinery 

 purposes." 



The Trustees of the British Museum have 



agreed to support the resolution passed at 



the Annual Meeting of the Royal Society 



for the Protection of Birds, urging His 



Majesty's Government to prohibit the 



importation of Wild Birds' Plumage — Ostrich- 

 feathers and Eider-down only excepted, and 

 have addressed a letter accordingly to the 

 President of the Board of Trade. 



The New York Sun (May 26, 1916) reports 

 that large quantities of Egret plumes, quills, 

 wings, heads, and skins or parts of skins of 

 wild birds from all parts of the world, 

 consigned to forty millinery and feather 

 houses in New York, have been seized by 

 the Customs authorities. 



" Suspicion was directed to several large 

 firms several months ago. Every case of 

 plumage which has been entered at this port 

 within the last six months has been taken 

 directly to the Appraiser's Stores, and there 

 subjected to close scrutiny at the hands of 

 the customs examiners. One after another 

 of the cases was found to contain large 

 percentages of plumage from wild birds. 

 The prohibited feathers were in every 

 instance mixed with the plumage of domestic 

 fowls, against which there is no ban. The 

 aigrettes, &c. , were carefully arranged on 

 the bottom of the cases and the domestic 

 plumage placed on top." 



The National Association of Audubon 

 Societies have obtained thirty prosecutions 

 lately for infringements of the law, and 

 many more cases are pending. Over $8000 

 have been paid in fines. 



PLUME-TRADE EXHIBITS AT A 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Mr. C. C. Baring, a Fellow of the Society, 

 writes to the Editor of Bird Notes aiid News : 



" One day, not very long ago, I paid a 

 visit to the Bethnal Green Museum, and 

 while looking at the many interesting 

 exhibits I came to some cases illustrative 

 of the economic use of wild birds' plumage. 

 At first I thought there must be some 

 enlightened and far-seeing person who had 

 realized the coming of a time when the 

 public will awake to the knowledge that 



