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Bird Notes and News 



not only to get finer fruit, but to enable the 

 branches to carry their burdens without 

 breaking down. I am afraid the Bullfinch 

 does considerable damage to the gooseberry 

 crop by taking toll of the luscious young buds. 

 But even here I think if there are two buds 

 together, the one containing an insect and the 

 other not, he will choose the one first which 

 contains the insect, which would of itself 

 destroy the bud if left alone, and would pro- 

 pagate his species and so provide for further 

 damage in the future. The Bullfinch is largely 

 an insect feeder, collecting all kinds, and 

 especially larva, and one of his favourite 

 foods is the larva of that destructive pest the 



Winter moth, of which the greater number 

 destroyed the better. He is a brute. The 

 Bullfinch also largely feeds on seeds and berries, 

 including those of dock, thistle, groundsel, 

 plantain, blackberries, chickweed, ragwort, 

 and other worries of the gardener. One Bull- 

 finch has been known to take 238 seeds of the 

 common spearthistle (Carduus lanceolatus) 

 in twenty minutes. I once examined the 

 crops of twenty Bullfinches in the Spring, 

 and in only two of them were there buds ; 

 all the rest were insects. This is why I look 

 favourably on the manners and customs of 

 the Bullfinch, and believe the good he does 

 more than balances the harm." 



The Trade in Birds' Plumage 



BIRDS OF PARADISE IN 

 EGG-BOXES 



At Marlborough Street Police Court, on 

 February 28th, before Mr. d'Eyncourt, 

 Raymond Colhoun (28), of Cleveland 

 Street, Fitzroy Square, W., and Louis 

 Constant Fleming (25), of Kensington 

 Garden Square, merchants and French 

 citizens, were charged with being con- 

 cerned together in importing or bringing 

 into the United Kingdom five packages 

 containing Birds of Paradise and other 

 prohibited plumage, the treble value of 

 which (forfeitable on conviction) was not 

 less than £7,500. 



Mr. F. Dart, from H.M. Customs and 

 Excise Department, Custom House, prose- 

 cuted. Mr. Frank E. Lemon watched the 

 case for the Royal Society for the Pro- 

 tection of Birds. 



One of the officers of Customs on duty 

 at Newhaven on February 25th, super- 

 vising the discharge of the steamer Paris, 

 found among the cargo five cases of eggs 

 addressed to Fleming-Colhoun, St. Anne's 

 Court, Dean Street, Soho. He opened 

 one case with a wire, and under two layers 

 of eggs found a box containing plumage. 

 The case was resealed and allowed to 

 go on, the officer meanwhile communi- 

 cating with the Customs authorities in 

 London. The crates were opened at St. 



Anne's Court, in the presence of Mr. 

 Renshaw, Chief Inquiry Officer of H.M. 

 Customs, and in each was a box contain- 

 ing Bird of Paradise skins entire and 

 Egret feathers. A document found by 

 Mr. Renshaw related to previous consign- 

 ments of eggs to defendants, and there 

 was also a paper bearing the words 

 " Plumes 86 et 120 Blanzy." Defendants 

 expressed surprise when the feathers were 

 found, and Fleming said he was a 

 French subject, sent over by Mr. Henry, 

 a merchant of Paris, to establish an egg 

 agency owing to the favourable exchange. 

 Both denied any knowledge of the 

 plumage. 



Dr. Percy Lowe, from the Natural 

 History Museum, said the Birds of Para- 

 dise came from Dutch New Guinea. 



The case was adjourned, defendants 

 being allowed bail in £1,000 each. 



At the adjourned hearing, on March 

 13th, Mr. Harry Myers, for the defence, 

 urged that there was no evidence to show 

 that defendants knew or could be ex- 

 pected to know of the presence of feathers 

 in the boxes until the Customs officer 

 discovered them. It was evident that 

 they were engaged in the egg trade. 

 Colhoun, examined by Mr. Dart, said that 

 the words and figures " Plumes 86 et 120 " 

 referred to pens. He and Fleming had 

 sold about fifteen or twenty cases of eggs. 



