52 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



AUTUMN CONFERENCE. 



A Conference of Local Hon. Secretaries and 

 others interested in the work of the Society 

 was held on October 28th, 1908, at the Rooms 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society, Vincent 

 Square, S.W., and was largely attended. 

 The Chairman of the Council, Mr. Montagu 

 Sharpe, presided, and among those who 

 accepted the Council's invitation were : 

 The Ranee of Sarawak (Lady Brooke), 

 Countess Feodora Gleichen, representing the 

 Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg 

 (who had intimated her intention of being 

 present, but was unfortunately prevented by 

 illness) ; the Dowager Countess of Lindsey, 

 the Hon. Mrs. Arthur Henniker, Hon. Dorothy 

 Brett, Lady Hooker, Lady Low, Sir John 

 Cockburn, Sir George Kekewich, M.P., Lady 

 Roe, Hon. A. and Mrs. Dobson, Hon. F. S. 

 O' Grady, Colonel Colomb, Captain Scott, Rev. 

 A. L. Hussey, Rev. H. S. Gladstone, Rev. A. 

 Ellison, Mr. Harold Hodge, Mr. Meade- Waldo, 

 Mr. Trevor-Battye, Mr. Ernest Bell, Mr. J. 

 L. Bonhote, Mr. W. P. D. Stebbing, Mr. F. 

 King, Mr. and Mrs. A. H. H. Matthews, 

 Mr. A. W. Craig, Mr. Percival Westell, Mr. 

 Scherren, Mrs. Luther Holden, Mrs. Tailby, 

 Miss Clifton, Mr. R. Morley, Mrs. Dixon 

 Davies, Mr. W. P. D. Stebbing, Miss Cadbury, 

 Mrs. Trist, Miss Barron, Miss Beeching, Miss 

 Mace, Mr. G. W. Chitty, and many others. 



The Plumage Bill. 



In addition to many subjects of interest 

 relating to the working of the Society, three 

 principal topics were on the programme, and 

 these occupied so much time that there was 

 little left for discussion. The Chairman 

 spoke on the Plumage Bill, explained its 

 history and present position, and dealt with 

 several points raised by the trade, par- 

 ticularly the labour question. The Council 

 of the Society would, he said, do its utmost 

 to bring about an International agreement, 

 so that a common basis might be found for 

 staving the traffic in the skins and plumes 



of rare and beautiful wild birds. Sir George 

 Kekewich added a few words as to the 

 prospects of the Bill ; and Mr. Lemon read 

 a letter received from Mr. Dutcher, Chairman 

 of the Audubon Association of the United 

 States, wishing success to the Bill as one 

 that would greatly forward legislation in 

 America. Sir John Cockburn eloquently 

 pleaded that England, the land of beauty, 

 should appropriately be the country to lead 

 the way. The men who went out to kill 

 these lovely birds were the hired assassins, 

 but the real murderesses were the fashionable 

 ladies who wore on their heads ornaments 

 more repulsive to the thinking man or woman 

 than the serpents that twined round the 

 head of Medusa. Not only were some of the 

 choicest gems that came from the Creator's 

 hand in danger of actual extinction, but they 

 were killed when their young were helpless 

 in the nest. And the hand responsible for 

 this was that of woman, whose function was 

 to succour life, not to destroy. 



Sparrow Clubs. 



Mr. Harold Hodge (Editor of the Saturday 

 Review) dealt with Sparrow Clubs and the 

 attitude towards them of the Society for the 

 Destruction of Vermin, which, he observed, 

 in most unscientific fashion classified 

 " Sparrows " among " noxious vermin," 

 between mice and fleas. He referred to the 

 correspondence started by Mr. Rider Haggard 

 in the Times, and strongly urged that if 

 Sparrow Clubs were established great care 

 should be taken that no child contributed 

 to the tale of birds ; otherwise all the good 

 already done in the teaching of school and 

 Band of Mercy would be undone, and the 

 child, with this beginning, would go on slay- 

 ing birds to the end of its days. There were 

 at present three kinds of Sparrow Clubs : 

 those which made some effort to confine 

 destruction to House-Sparrows ; those which 

 openly included other birds ; and the 

 utterly nefarious, which made war on all 

 small birds. Even those first-named did 



