Bird Notes and News 



29 



Cornwall. As a matter of fact, however, 

 this number by no means covers all those 

 put down, some thirty others being ruled 

 out of order or for other reasons not con- 

 sidered. Generally speaking the majorities 

 were substantial, especially on the principal 

 points, such as the attempt to exempt 

 " moulted " feathers, feathers of " domesti- 

 cated " birds or " pests " ; to empower 

 a warning only for first offence ; to 

 exempt Ireland from the Bill ; to permit 

 a warranty obtained by a dealer to save him 

 from conviction ; to relax the Customs 

 Act, so that goods with which plumage 

 might be smuggled should not be forfeited. 



Six pages of " amendments," of precisely 

 the same character with those thrashed 

 out and rejected in committee, have been 

 put down for consideration on the Report 

 Stage by the same small knot of Members. 



Great Britain, the Colonies, the Continent, 

 and naturalists the world over, ask " How 

 long ? " 



The Grand Medal of Honour of the 

 Societe Nationale de France and the affiliated 

 Ligue Francaise pour la Protection des 

 Oiseaux, has been this year awarded to 

 Dr. W. T. Hornaday, of New York, as a 

 token of the appreciation of French savants 

 of the leading part taken by him in the 

 successful anti-plumage campaign in the 

 United States. 



The Royal Society for the Protection of 

 Birds had an exhibit of " The Story of the 

 Egret " pictures, and of literature, at the 

 International Exhibition of Insects, Fishes, 

 and Birds, held at Paris, June 6th to 21st, 

 1914. Through the efforts of the Ligue 

 Francaise, special attention was called to 

 the destruction of birds for millinery, and 

 a thousand copies of the card " Quelques 

 victimes du commerce des plumes " were 

 given away. Captain Tailby visited the 

 Exhibition as representative of the 

 Society. 



Economic Ornithology. 



THE SWALLOWS. 



The plague of gnats and midges, which 

 has been on the increase for some years, 

 has become well-nigh intolerable this sum- 

 mer in some districts, although the worst 

 season for these pests is yet to come. Once 

 more the question is asked : Where are the 

 Swallows who feed on these insects of the 

 air, and whose decrease has been noted for 

 over a dozen years? There is now little 

 need to ask the question. It is definitely 

 known that the Swallows have in past years 

 been killed by the thousand on migration 

 between this country and their winter home 

 in Africa ; that the valley of the Rhone, 



and especially the provinces of Gard, 

 Vaucluse, and the Bouches du Rhone, with 

 the Carmague country, have witnessed the 

 wholesale destruction of these precious 

 allies of man, three million, it is reported, 

 being taken in one season at Crau. The 

 flashing wings that should have brought 

 them across the channel to their British 

 homes, have gone to the plumassiers of 

 Paris or New York or London to upstand 

 in mockery in women's headgear ; the 

 delicate bodies that should have glanced 

 over our meadows and streams have 

 gone to the restaurants to gratify 

 gourmands. M. Severin Baudouy and 



