Bird Notes & News 



ISSUED QUARTERLY BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 :: :: FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS :: 



Vol. VI. ] 



AUTUMN, 1914. 



[No. 3. 



The Plumape Bill. 



Never perhaps has a Parliamentary 

 Bill been more eagerly looked for, more 

 widely and heartily supported, and more 

 near to success than the Importation 

 of Plumage (Prohibition) Bill, which 

 should by this time have been part 

 of the law of the land. Introduced 

 in the first place a year ago by 

 Mr. Hobhouse, Mr. Buxton (now Lord 

 Buxton), and Mr. E. S. Montagu, on 

 behalf of the Government : re-introduced 

 in February last : passed by the House 

 of Commons, on Second Reading, by 

 the overwhelming majority of 297 to 

 15 : reported by Grand Committee after 

 every possible method of resistance and 

 obstruction had been tried by the handful 

 of opponents, there remained only the 

 Report Stage in the House, with the 

 Third Reading. At the last moment came 

 the storm-burst of War, overwhelming 

 the civilization of a Continent. 



To say that the arduous work and 

 the heavy outlay of the Society for 

 a twelvemonth, in supporting this Bill, 

 has therefore been thrown away, would 

 be wholly a mistaken view. The end 

 of the year's work is, it is true, a 

 bitter disappointment. Up to and even 

 beyond the terrible and memorable 

 Bank Holiday of August, 1914, it still 

 seemed possible that the Bill might go 

 through. Little more than a month 

 before that day, it is worth noting, 

 Professor Schillings, of Berlin, had 

 been in London, urging, as a naturalist, 



the importance of the British lead to 

 Germany in this matter, and the need 

 for the co-operation of the two nations. 

 But in this connexion it must be said 

 also that the Plumage Trade is very 

 heavily weighed with German influence, 

 and that the irreconcilability of a German 

 receiving-port, with Paris as head-buyer, 

 was one of the factors that emphasized 

 the importance of retaining London as 

 central mart. 



The gains from the campaign have 

 been great. In the first place it has 

 served thoroughly to sound public 

 opinion. For many years naturalists 

 had been agreed as to the appalling 

 character of the trade in birds' feathers ; 

 and there was good evidence of the 

 trend of general feeling even while a 

 section of womankind adorned them- 

 selves in the extreme of Red Indian 

 fashion. The actual Introduction of 

 a Government Bill of a genuine, 

 thorough and practical description, 

 brought this feeling to a head with 

 remarkable and indisputable force. 

 While action was ' : in the air," or 

 promised to be partial and unsatis- 

 factory, support was languid. With 

 a decisive measure in view it became 

 at once urgent and imperative. If the 

 Press may be taken as the pulse of 

 the country, it was made plain that 

 almost every section of the public was 

 with the Government in the proposals 

 of their Bill. Not onlv the Times, the 



