io8 



Bird Notes and News 



efforts to get morsels of food through the 

 small holes in the ironwork of the ventilator. 

 The mother sparrow put up a most tenacious 

 fight to save her ofispring, as several days 

 elapsed before the birds were released. The 

 little ones w^ere safely got out, apparently 

 no worse for their experience, and the family 

 is once more united in a new home among 

 the trees in the churchyard. 



The curious blindness to the economic 

 value of wild birds which characterises 

 the general publications of the Ministry 

 of Agriculture has frequently been noted. 

 Another instance occurs in an article 

 in the August Number of the Journal 

 on the liver rot of sheep. Details and 

 scientific names of the snail-hosts of 

 various species of the worm, a record 



of experiments with sulphate of ammonia 

 and copper sulphate in ditches and in 

 laboratories and their result, even a note 

 on the value of ducks, are all set forth. 

 No hint whatever of the value of the 

 charming little Wagtails which haunt 

 stream and pasture. Yet even in the 

 Board's own leaflet on Wagtails (one of 

 the seven or eight on birds that were 

 brought out a quarter of a century ago) 

 it is stated that they destroy quantities 

 of these snails and therefore do good 

 service to sheep-farmers, in addition to 

 their value in eating wireworms and many 

 of the tiresome insects that haunt cattle 

 and sheep. Would it not be common 

 sense to suggest the protection of such 

 birds or does laboratory research close 

 the eyes to Nature's provision in such 

 matters ? 



The Plumage Trade 



PLUMAGE IMPORTATION ACT 



The names of the Green Pheasant, the 

 Copper Pheasant, and the Golden Pheasant 

 were added to the Schedule to the 

 Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) 

 Act, 1921, by virtue of the Importation 

 of Plumage (No. 2) Order, 1922, dated 

 June 12, 1922. 



The Advisory Committee in re- 

 commending the addition of the names 

 of these birds to the Schedule, further 

 recommended that the matter should 

 be referred to them again for review 

 after the expiration of twelve months. 

 The Committee have now reconsidered 

 this question, and have recommended 

 that the Golden pheasant should be 

 included in the Schedule for a further 

 period of twelve months, but that the 

 Copper and Green pheasants should be 

 removed from the Schedule at the end 

 of the present year. 



The Board of Trade accordingly desire 

 it to be known that an order will be 

 made in due course removing the names 

 of the Copper and Green pheasants from 

 the Schedule, with effect from January 1 , 

 1924. 



After this date, therefore, the importa- 

 tion of their skins and plumage will 

 again be illegal. 



The Swan has been added to the 

 scheduled birds. 



WHAT IS "MARABOU"? 



A large number of queries reach 

 the R.S.P.B. from ladies who wish to 

 know how and from what bird " marabou" 

 feathers are obtained, and if they are 

 permissible wear for members of the 

 Society. The only answer possible is 

 that the " Marabou " Stork and its 

 relations, from which the peculiarly light 

 and soft feathers are nominally obtained, 

 have not been placed upon the schedule 

 of the Act, and therefore no case has 

 been made out for their importation 

 and all those brought into this country 

 are contraband goods. The birds have 

 been persecuted to the verge of ex- 

 termination and have become rare. 



It is fairly obvious that a great quantity 

 of the cheap stoles, etc., sold under this 

 name are not what they profess to be. 

 The feathers may conceivably be obtained 

 from certain species bearing similar down 



