BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



31 



destruction of four times that number, because 

 they were all breeding at the time. 



Some trade witnesses have assured the Committee 

 that the Egret's feathors which are sold are 

 generally dropped plumes, and not taken from the 

 killed birds. What would you say with regard to 

 that statement ? — That is not so in Australia. 

 It is absolutely necessary to kill the birds. . . . 



Lord Stanmore : I was Governor of Ceylon for a 

 period of seven years ; and during even those seven 

 years I noticed a most marked diminution in the 

 numbers of the Egret. When I first went there 

 in 1883 they were quite common ; in 1890, when I 

 left Ceylon, they had become rare. I travelled a 

 great deal in different parts of the country, and 

 the change even in that short time was most 

 marked. 



THE LYRE-BIRD. 



Colonel Ryan : ... The Lyre-bird will be 

 an almost extinct bird before very long, as the 

 destruction is going on at the present time. 



Duke of Rutland : But there are two State Acts 

 regulating the sale ? — Yes, but they are not enforced. 



I suppose it is the price that is got for them here 

 that leads very much to their destruction in 

 Australia ? — Yes. 



Mr. Montagu Sharpe : The Lyre-bird is pro- 

 tected in Australia, but the tails continue to come 

 into the English market ; it is stated (J. W. R. 

 Clarke in " Sydney Morning Herald," September loth, 

 1905) that on one day of 1905 twelve dozen Lyre- 

 bird tails were sold at Sydney Woolstore for export 

 to London. 



DESTRUCTION OF OWLS. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe : Amongst other useful 

 birds that are being destroyed by thousands are 

 Barn Owls. In 1900, when I was in Paris, we had 

 a Congress meeting on the subject, and the wholo 

 of the French milliners' shops were full of hats 

 with the head of the Barn Owl (coloured pink) on 

 them, and I found that about 3500 had been sent 

 from Peru, along with 200,000 magpies and other 

 birds. 



MOULTED FEATHERS. 



Mr. Matthew Hale : It is assumed that all 

 the Egret feathers that are shipped over here are 

 of birds that are killed ; but I can assure you a 

 tremendous quantity of these feathers are dropped 

 at moulting times ; they are not taken from live 

 birds. Large quantities are picked up on the 

 moulting ground and shipped here. They are not 

 quite so good as the others, but they are sold in 

 enormous quantities ; and this finds a great employ- 

 ment, you must remember, for a number of these 

 Indians, who would be starved otherwise. 



Chairman : We have had ovidence that prac- 

 tically none of these feathers are moult feathers — 

 that the moult feathers are rarely found. Are 

 you speaking from personal knowledge ? — I am 

 positive. It is well known to us. 



Mb. Downkam : Venezuela, from which these 

 Egret feathers principally come, represents a very 

 small corner of South America, and it would take 

 very many years — if they were able to get at oven 

 the vast quantity that live in Venezuela alone — 

 to exterminate that bird. Venezuela, or round tin- 

 Orinoco, is to a great extent covered with marshes 

 and swamps, malarial places, which are only ac- 

 cessible at certain times of the year. The Egret 

 breeding at the end of the flood season and assuming 

 these feathers, moults directly after the breeding 

 season, and it will be found, by close examination 

 of these feathers, that 80 to 90 per cent, are old 

 feathers that are picked up off the ground after the 

 moult. Many of these places are protected to a 

 certain extent. It is not easy to protect any land in 

 Venezuela, where it is so very wild, but wherever 

 a man exists who is able to protect these nesting 

 places, he does not allow the nesting places to be 

 molested until after the moult of these nesting 

 plumes. . . . 



The Duke of Rutland : That is your opinion ? — 

 No, it is not my opinion ; it is knowledge I havo 

 gained. 



It is not your personal knowledge ; you have 

 not been there yourself ? — I have not been there 

 myself. 



Mr. AVeiler : The tale told about their being 

 shot at breeding time is a fairy myth. A few birds 

 may be shot, but the majority are allowed to five. 

 In one or two cases, such as the Birds of Paradise, 

 that may be the case, but certainly not with 

 the Egrets. 



Chairman : Your evidence is diametrically op- 

 posed to the evidence of ornithologists, which we 

 have heard, and therefore when you tell the Com- 

 mittee that these feathers are picked up, and that 

 the buds are not really destroyed when they are 

 nesting, I gather that you have never been in those 

 countries, but are speaking from general impression I 

 — I am speaking from what I have heard and 

 studied and what I have read. 



Captain Albert Pah : I have travelled a good deal 

 in South America, and have had some experience, 

 more especially with the Egrets on the Amazon 

 and the Orinoco. The birds are undoubtedly 

 being slaughtered in very large numbers, and in 

 the breeding season. Dr. Hagmann, who was for 

 many years junior curator of the museum in Para, 

 on the Amazon, to whom I wrote on the subject, 

 confirms me that the birds are shot on the Amazon, 



