Bird Notes and News 



Not even the Plume-trade and the 

 Pole-trap have, however, evoked the 

 indignation of the Governor-General-elect 

 more than has the traffic in the little 

 wild birds of English hedgerow and 

 common. Speaking at the Society's 

 meeting in 1905, he expressed the opinion 

 that a Bill should be introduced into 

 Parliament to deal more effectually with 

 the birdcatcher, " for it is monstrous 

 that public roads and walks should be 

 utilised by trappers, with all the cruelties 

 attendant on their practice, such as the 



torture of the decoy birds and the 

 captivity of the victims in suffocating 

 little cages." He promised such a Bill 

 his earnest support. On this subject, 

 too, public is steadily hardening. 



Sir Sydney joined the Society for the 

 Protection of Birds twenty years ago, 

 and became a Vice-President in 1895. 

 He succeeded the late Sir George Measom 

 as Hon. Treasurer in 1901. In addition 

 to the leaflet mentioned he wrote for the 

 Society one of its Educational Series of 

 leaflets, dealing with the Tits. 



The Government Plumage Bill. 



SECOND READING. 



The Government Bill for prohibiting 

 the importation of the skins and plumage 

 of wild birds for millinery purposes was 

 read a first time in the House of 

 Commons on February 13th. 1914. 



It will be remembered that the Bill 

 was introduced by the Right Hon. 

 C. E. Hobhouse (then Chancellor of the 

 Duchy) last August, very shortly before 

 the adjournment of the House, so that 

 the trade have had five months in which 

 to marshal their defences and consider 

 the situation. In 1913 the Bill was 

 backed by the Right Hon. Sydney 

 Buxton, President of the Board of Trade, 

 and Mr. E. S. Montagu, Under-Secretary 

 for India. This year Mr. Buxton's name 

 had to be omitted in consequence of his 

 resignation of his seat on appointment 

 to the Governor-Generalship of South 

 Africa. Mr. Hobhouse has become Post- 

 master-General, and Mr. Montagu Finan- 

 cial Secretary to the Treasury. 



The Bill is printed in full in the 

 Society's Plumage Campaign Leaflet 

 No. 2, and it is therefore not necessary 

 to give here more than the principal 

 provisions : 



(1) Subject to the exceptions in this Act 



contained, a person shall not import into 

 the United Kingdom the plumage of any 

 wild bird, and accordingly section forty- 

 two of the Customs Consolidation Act, 

 1876, shall be read as if there were included 

 in the table of prohibitions and restrictions 

 therein — 



"the plumage of wild birds as de- 

 fined by the Importation of Plumage 

 (Prohibition) Act, 1914, subject to the 

 exceptions contained in that Act." 



(2) A person shall not have in his pos- 

 session or be concerned in selling the 

 plumage of any wild bird which has been 

 imported in contravention of this Act, or 

 which, having been allowed to be imported 

 on the ground that it is being put to a 

 certain use or intended to be put to a cer- 

 tain use, is being put to some other use. 



Exemptions are made in favour of 

 the plumage of birds for the time being 

 included in the schedule ; the plumage 

 of birds imported under a licence for 

 supplying specimens for a Natural History 

 or other museum or for scientific re- 

 search ; the plumage of birds ordinarily 

 used as articles of diet and imported for 

 that purpose. The birds named in the 

 schedule are the Ostrich and Eider-Duck ; 

 names of birds may be added or removed 

 by an Order in Council. The sub-section 



