30 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



Office, they did, as I understand, prosecute, but we 

 had no powers to reship the goods to Calcutta. 



Chairman : Would there, in the judgment of 

 your Department, be any special difficulty likely to 

 arise in carrying out the provisions of this Act ? 

 — I do not think so. 



It may be evaded ? — It may be evaded ; but if 

 this Bill passes, and we found birdskins or plumage 

 in a ship, we should seize it at once. 



EXTERMINATION OF SPECIES. 



Evidence put in by Mr. Montagu Sharpe : The 

 necessity for checking through the English markets 

 the destruction of wild birds by the plume-hunters 

 has existed for many years, and this has now 

 become imperative if certain species of birds are 

 to 1)0 preserved from extermination. Among these 

 birds are the following : — 



Many species of Herons and Egrets, such as 

 Little Egret Garzetta garzetta China, Japan, 



India, Africa. 

 Blackfooted Egret Garzetta nigripes Moluccas, Java, 



Australia. 

 Snowy Egret Lencophoyx candi- America. 



dissima 

 The Birds of Paradiseidae New Guinea. 



Paradise 



Recent evidence as to the war of extermination against these 

 birds, and the threatened extinction of P. rubra, P. apodn, 

 P. minor, and P. jobiensis, was given by Mr. Walter Goodfellow 

 at a meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, June 19th, 

 1907. 



Rifle-bird Ptiloria paradisea Australia. 



Lyre-bird Menura snperba Australia. 



M. victorias 

 Impeyau Pheasant Lophophorus Southern Cash- 



impeianus mere. 



L. refulgens Southern slopes of 



Himalayas. 

 In a less degree the following : — 

 Rollers Coraei&s India and 



elsewhere. 

 Feathers known in the trade as " Jay." Of the two Indian 

 species. C. indicus and C. affinis, "thousands upon tbotisands 

 are annually destroyed," says Newton (Dictionary of Birds, 

 p. 701), " to supply the demand for gaudy feathers." 

 Tody Todidae Antillian 



subregion 

 Quetzal and Pharoinaerus Guatemala 



other Trogons mociuno 



Cock-of-the-rock Rupicola crocea Guiana and lower 



countries of the 

 Amazon 

 Rhea Rhea arnericana South America. 



Feathers known in the trade as " Vautour " or " Vulture." 

 " So great has been the slaughter during the last few years, 

 averaging, we are told, 300,000 to 500,000 per annum, that one 

 may now ride hundreds of leagues from Buenos Ayres without 

 seeing one." (Harting & Rosenthal, "Ostriches and Ostrich- 

 farming.") 



Emeu Bromaeus novae- Australia. 



hollandiae 

 " Further and further it will be driven until it be extirpated, 

 unless some law be instituted to cheek its wanton destruction." 

 (Gould's " Birds of Australia.") 



Moreover, the waste of life is in many cases 

 accompanied with great cruelty, the birds being 

 lulled at the breeding season : the " osprey " 

 plumes are the breeding plumage of the Herons and 

 Egrets. The tail for which the Lyre-bird is killed 

 is also developed only at this season. The plumage 

 of all birds is most brilliant at mating-time. Some 

 species, as for example the Scarlet Tanager, are 

 gaily-coloured then only. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe : My attention has for 

 many years been called to the considerable 

 destruction of birds for the purposes of hats and 

 other articles of dress. 



Chairman : And is it your opinion that the matter 

 has gone so far now that some birds are in danger 

 of extermination if nothing is done to prevent it ? 

 — Certainly. 



Mr. G. K. Dunstall : As to the question of 

 extermination, I have had acquaintance with these 

 birds practically all my life, and, so far as the main 

 things which we handle are concerned, there has 

 not been the slightest sign of the quantity falling 

 off ... in fact, there are a number of birds 

 which we thought were rare years ago, and now 

 •they come in by the thousands freely and plentifully. 



Chairman : You say there are not many Egrets 

 in Florida now ? — Very few. There never were 

 many. You can soon exterminate a small number 

 of birds in a small part of the country. If there 

 wero Egrets in the Isle of Wight they would soon 

 be exterminated. 



But Florida is very much larger than the Isle 

 of Wight ?— Yes. 



We have had it in evidence that the Egret used 

 to be very common in Florida, and that now it is 

 very rare ? — It could be easily exterminated in 

 Florida. 



Mr. Downham : Some years ago, when Egret 

 feathers were very fashionable, a raid was made on 

 Florida in general, and it was found necessary, in 

 consequence of these Heron nesting-places being 

 broken up, to legislate and protect them. But 

 they were not exterminated ; they migrated. 

 The j' were not all killed. You might just as well 

 say that because you do not see foxes on Hampstead 

 Heath foxes are exterminated ; but they have 

 merely been driven away from that particular 

 neighbourhood. 



Colonel Ryan : In the more settled parts of 

 Australia Egrets are almost exterminated. I 

 can give you an example of what came under my 

 own personal notice about four years ago, of a 

 rookery where two young men went down and 

 destroyed, and I think they sold, over 400 plumes. 

 The destruction of 400 birds meant, of course, the 



