102 



Bird Notes and News 



The Plumage Trade. 



The attitude of the Government on the 

 feather trade cannot be called satisfactory. 

 Li July last Mr. James Buckland addressed 

 a letter to members of both Houses of 

 Parliament, protesting against the continued 

 import of plumage in spite of the prohibition 

 under the Defence of the Realm Act. As 

 he well said: " That these worse than useless 

 articles should be allowed to oust our food 

 supplies from the holds of British ships, when 

 the saving of tonnage is the very life of 

 the nation, is an outrage." Questioned on the 

 subject in the House, the President of the 

 Board of Trade stated that consignments 

 were admitted if despatched or paid for on 

 or before the date of the prohibition, adding 

 "It is not unlikely that a certain quantity 

 of feathers, which come from a great distance, 

 will continue for some time to arrive under 

 the above conditions." To this the natural 

 rejoiner is : From how many countries 

 do steamers take more than five months 

 to reach London ? The Financial News 

 comments — 



" In plain English, this German feather 

 trade is to be left free to continue indefinitely 

 its manoeuvres for raiding the Empire's 

 territories and stealing the Empire's 

 property." 



The Parliamentary Secretary of the Board 

 has since given assurance that it shall be 

 made a condition of licences to import 

 feathers that they shall not be available for 

 the importation of any feathers originatmg 



in British India, or of any feathers from any 

 other part of the Empire which has j)rohibited 

 the export of such feathers." ^1 



Why can the Department not franldy and 

 honestly at once direct that no licences 

 whatever shall be issued for " fancy feathers " 

 from any part of the world, as demanded by 

 the House of Commons in 1914 and impera- 

 tive at this crisis in the shipment of the 

 necessities of life ? 



A new crusade is needed to warn women 

 against bolstermg up the trade, since every 

 " osprey " (whether the upstanding plume 

 or the weedy fringe), or other wild bird's 

 feather worn, brands the wearer as no patriot. 



In a letter to the Chairman of the R.S.P.B., 

 Dr. Hornaday writes (July 26, 1917)— 



" I sincerely hope that you and your 

 Society will be able to make permanent the 

 prohibition of the importation of wild birds' 

 plumage, and I have no doubt that you will 

 do so. I think you would be pleased and 

 amused if you could see how very tightly the 

 U.S. Custom-houses draw their line against 

 the importation. Last week the Conserva- 

 tion Commissioner of the State of New York 

 destroyed by burning 10,000 dollars' worth 

 of aigrettes which through long and careful 

 work had been ferreted out and seized in the 

 hands of dealers here in New York City ; 

 and at the same time the dealers were 

 mulcted in suitable fines. 



Bird-and-Tree Challenge Shield Competition. 



The Essaj^s sent in for the 1917 Competition 

 are now in the hands of the Judges, and the 

 results will be made Imown to the competing 

 Schools as quickly as possible. On account 

 of the paper-shortage special County Reports 

 will not be issued this year, but a list of the 

 principal awards in the whole Competition 

 will be forwarded to every School which 

 entered a Team, together with the report 

 on the work sent in by that Team. 



Nature-Study in Cumberland Schools has 

 sustained a grievous loss in the death, on 

 June 12th, of Miss Hayes, head mistress of 



Keswick C.E. Girls' School. The Keswick 

 Girls' Team, through her training, has done 

 admirable Bird-and-Tree work for some 

 years past, winning the Shield in 1914 

 and 1915. Miss Hayes was much beloved, 

 and a brass tablet to her memory has been 

 put up in the school by the staff and scholars. 



Among the young naturalists whose lives 

 have been laid down in the war is Sergeant 

 Johnston, son of the head teacher of Nether 

 Denton School. His colonel, who died with 

 him J had said that he was the finest com- 

 panion to march or ride with, as he could 



