Bird Notes and News 



109 



which are scheduled by the Act. But 

 as long as they masquerade as marabou 

 it is impossible for ladies to know what 

 they are getting ; and remembering the 

 extent to which they were duped in 

 regard to " osprey " plumage they will 

 be chary of believing statements put 

 forth by the trade. 



ENFORCING THE LAW IN 

 AUSTRALIA 



The following extract from the Adelaide 

 Chronicle shows that Australians have 

 not only adequate laws on the plumage 

 question but that they are able to give 

 prompt effect to them : — 



An Adelaide lady, noted for her smart 

 dressing, has been spending a holiday in 

 Melbourne. In all the glory of a new and 



particularly expensive millinery " creation," 

 which boasted a magnificent Bird of Paradise 

 plume as its sole trimming, the lady passed 

 slowly along Collins Street seated in a limousine. 

 Many glances were cast at the hat, but one was 

 even more prolonged and searching than the 

 rest. Curiously enough, it was a man who 

 stared so hard and long. He was a Customs 

 of&cial, and he stopped the car and politely 

 requested the lady to accompany him to the 

 office of the Collector of Customs. It appears 

 that Bird of Paradise plumes are banned. The 

 lady was able to give a satisfactory account 

 of how she obtained possession of the plume 

 and she was allowed to retain it, but she was 

 advised to remove it from her hat, and this 

 was done before she left the building. The 

 ban on Bird of Paradise plumes extends 

 throughout the Commonwealth, so that it is 

 unlikely that the hat will be seen in Adelaide 

 in all its original glory. 



Economic Ornithology 



THE RAT PLAGUE 



The following resolution has been passed, 

 on the casting vote of the Chairman, 

 by the Central Executive Committee of 

 the Scottish National Farmers' Union 

 (June, 1923):— 



" That this committee is of opinion that 

 the plague of rats and mice is largely due in 

 many districts to the destruction of owls, 

 hawks, hedgehogs, badgers, weasels, and cats 

 by owners and lessees of shootings and their 

 gamekeepers, and that the burden of destroying 

 rats and mice shoiJd fall on those who destroy 

 their natural enemies, and not solely on the 

 occupier, as under the Rats and Mice Destruc- 

 tion Act, 1919. Steps should therefore be 

 taken to have the 1919 Act amended, so as to 

 throw the burden on the party who destroys 

 these natural enemies, except with the consent 

 of the occupier of the holding." 



THE FARMER AND HIS 

 WORKPEOPLE 



In one of his vigorous articles in the 

 Huddersfield Examiner (June 15th, 1923), 

 Mr. Oswald Mosley, Curator of the 

 Ravensknowle Museum, quotes from the 

 Canadian Forestry Journal concerning 

 the loss sustained in America through 

 the devastations of insects, and the 



work which is, and which might be, 

 done by birds to save all manner of 

 crops. " In our brilliant career as Ameri- 

 cans," says this writer, " and with a 

 strong hold on the thought that the 

 Lord wiU provide, we have killed just 

 about 90 per cent, of our birds. Is it 

 any wonder that the ten per cent, caimot 

 keep down the pests ? " And he proceeds 

 to enumerate some of the achievements 

 of Quails and Pine-Siskins and Tree- 

 Swallows in destroying weevils and 

 " bugs." Mr. Mosley adds : — 



"It is sometimes said that there is not the 

 same need in Britain to guard against insect 

 depredations as there is in America. But this 

 is a mistake. Proportionately the above 

 remarks apply to this country as well as to 

 America. The chief difEerence is that some 

 of the above kinds do not occur in Britain 

 but they are replaced by others equally injurious. 

 There is another difEerence— certain parts of 

 the United States, with their extremes between 

 summer and winter, are subject to fluctuations 

 of insect life not known in England, and one 

 season may have disastrous results, while in 

 Britain it is a more gradual, but everlasting 

 gnawing. The American attacks may be com- 

 pared to an intermittent fever, while in England 

 it is more like a decaying consumption, but 

 in both cases the matter is serious. 



