Bird Notes and News 



persons who had not previously given any 

 attention to the matter. The Government 

 wished to put a stop to a traffic which was 

 not founded on reason, which brought no 

 profit to this country, and which was a 

 dishonour to the people by whom it was 

 conducted. The reason why Government 

 had taken the matter up was that the 

 danger was very urgent ; already species 

 had disappeared through the persecution of 

 the traders and their savage allies, and if 

 they waited for a private Member to be 

 successful in the ballot, they might have 

 to shut the door upon an empty stable. 



DESTRUCTION OF BIRD-LIFE. 



It was not merely that there had been 

 considerable slaughter ; it was not merely 

 that where they had been plentiful birds 

 were now scarce ; it was that species had 

 absolutely disappeared from their breeding- 

 places and haunts. There were regions in the 

 world at one time densely inhabited by bird 

 population, which had been absolutely 

 swept clear of their beautiful denizens. It 

 would be easy to multiply instances of 

 destruction. Knowledge of them had not 

 come in single letters, or from the experi- 

 ence of an odd traveller or an odd explorer ; 

 the communications received had come 

 from every part of the world ; they had 

 found their way into every newspaper in 

 this country ; they had been forwarded by 

 travellers, sportsmen, explorers, and even 

 agriculturists, who suffered from the dis- 

 appearance of many species of birds. The 

 evidence was unimpeachable and over- 

 whelming. The breeding-places for most 

 of these birds were in swamps and jungles, 

 and upon such places the advance of 

 civilization inexorably pressed. They could 

 not help that ; but why should they permit 

 a silly and debasing fashion which was 



nothing but a relic of savagery and bar- 

 barism to do harm to these most innocent 

 and beautiful creatures? It was really a 

 case of the vanity of women going hand 

 in hand with the rapacity of men, and the 

 sphere of their joint mischief ought to be 

 limited as far as possible. 



OSTRICH FEATHERS. 



The Textile Trades Section of the London 

 Chamber of Commerce had circulated a 

 leaflet in which, among other things, it 

 was suggested that if the Bill became law 

 the markets of this country would be shut 

 to the sale of Ostrich feathers ; but the 

 Bill expressly exempted the plumage of 

 the Ostrich. The total import of feathers 

 last year was £3,570,000, of which 

 £2,500,000 represented Ostrich feathers ; 

 other fancy feathers amounted to 

 £1,070,000; the total exports were 

 £2,100,000, of which Ostrich feathers were 

 £1,750,000 ; and fancy feathers, with which 

 alone this Bill is concerned, came to 

 £326,000. From the export point of view 

 the value of feathers which would be 

 affected by the Bill was only £160,000 

 a year. Figures, obtained in advance, of 

 the second census of production showed 

 that the total output of all the feather work- 

 shops in this country was £710,000. Of 

 that £520,000 represented Ostrich feathers, 

 and all feathers prohibited by this Bill 

 came to a total value of £120,000. That 

 was the measure of trade that was going 

 to be affected. 



THE LABOUR QUESTION. 



What about the number of persons 

 employed in the trade? for that, after all 

 was the most important point. It had been 

 said that thousands would be thrown out of 

 employment in London alone. A census of 

 persons engaged in the trade gave the total 



