Bird Notes eindl News 



109 



roar, yet the little bird remained there quite 

 unconcerned by the awful noise and vibration. 

 If you went too near she just tumbled out 

 into the trench beneath and pretended she 

 had a broken wing, and if you tried to pick 

 her up she led you a nice dance over bully - 



beef tins, rolls of wire and other oddments 

 at the bottom of the trench, until you had 

 been led about 50 yards away ; then she 

 jumped up and asked you how you liked 

 being ' had ' ! She was a plucky little 

 bird, and reared four young." 



The Plumape Trade. 



g^ 



EGRETS IN VENEZUELA. 



It is announced that Venezuela has passed 

 a law to govern the collection and exploita- 

 tion of " osprey " feathers, by which the 

 killing or trapping of Herons is prohibited 

 at all seeasons, and the feathers may be 

 collected only from July to November 

 inclusive, the moulting season. Collectors 

 of customs, it is added, are not to permit 

 the exportation of such feathers without 

 having satisfied themselves that they are 

 moulted feathers and were not taken from 

 slaughtered birds ; and the IVCnister of 

 Fomento is to furnish each custom-house 

 with samples of moulted plume and '' live " 

 plume in order that they may know the 

 difference . 



Members of the R.S.P.B. in particular will 

 remember that Venezuela has be;n the great 

 land of the " osprey "-hunter since the 

 frightful destruction by the trade of the 

 heronries in the United States and the 

 vigilant protection of the few remaining 

 colonies of Egrets and Herons thereby the 

 wardens of the Audubon Association. It 

 was on the Venezuelan trade that the 

 plume-merchants took their stand in 1909, 

 when the remarkable stories of jMr. Leon 

 Laglaize were floated to assure the public 

 that every heronry in that land was rigidly 

 protected and that every plume obtained 

 was picked up in the marshes or taken 

 from the lining of the birds' nests ! This 

 ingenious farrago was demolished at the 

 time by the Royal Society for the Protection 

 of Birds, but the feathers continued to be 

 supplied in the main from the wild regions of 

 this same state, where a hinterland of swamp 

 and marsh affords good nesting-ground for 

 herons and a shooting-ground where the 

 hunter is little likely to be inten-upted. 



The new law sounds encouraging ; but 

 in the light of past events and of the prolific 



fictions put forth by the feather-trade, it 

 may need some watching. The time when 

 feathers may be " picked up " includes 

 the breeding-season as well as the moulting- 

 season. The new regulations are admittedly 

 the result of a decline in the trade on account 

 of the prohibition of importation in the 

 United States, the campaign against the 

 wearing of " the badge of cruelty " in Great 

 Britain and, finally, the war. The popula- 

 tion of the district affected — only 100,000 — 

 appealed to the Government to do something 

 to preserve their " osprey " business, and 

 to repeal hostile laws. As the actual 

 moulted feather is inferior in quality, brittle 

 and ragged, and of little use in millinery, it 

 seems at least possible that the main desire 

 is to throw pleasing dust in the eyes of the 

 public and permit the revival of trade as 

 before. 



The only actual safeguard worth having 

 is the prohibition of importation into the 

 United Kingdom ; with the advice to the 

 people of Bolivar and Apure to find some 

 more honest business. 



IMPORTATION OF PLIBL^GE. 



Following on a correspondence between 

 this Society and the Board of Trade, relative 

 to the importation of " osprey " feathers 

 by a certain vessel, in spite of the prohibition 

 under the Order of March last, the Secretary 

 of the Department of Import Restrictions 

 has informed the Society that t' e importation 

 of Egret feathers has now ^een absolutely 

 prohibited, and that this prohibition extends 

 to the plumage of all Herons, Birds-of- 

 Paradise, Lyre Birds, Albatrosses, Condors, 

 and Argus Pheasants. 



Wliy exemption should be allowed for 

 any wild-bird feathers whatsoever is still a 

 mystery. 



