BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



71 



season. The aviary is a room or shed in 

 which the caged birds are stored. The supply 

 can be replenished again and again throughout 

 the close time, but there is practically no 

 chance of proving this, and the men will 

 always swear that birds on sale or sent to 

 dealers are part of the old stock, or bred in 

 captivity, and will bring numerous relations 

 and friends to back them up. The magis- 

 trates, not being experts, and not viewing 

 birdcatching as they view poaching, give 

 " the benefit of the doubt " ; and the police, 

 discouraged in what is always a difficult task, 

 decide to leave the matter alone in future. 

 So as long as it rests with the prosecution 

 to prove the recent taking of the birds, it 

 seems impossible to deal satisfactorily with 

 bird-shops and stalls. Birds absolutely wild. 

 and in breeding plumage, may be seen in 

 shops or on barrows, but they are all sworn 

 to as " old stock " from the " aviary " in 

 Isleham or in Bethnal Green. 



The second point relates to the trouble 

 experienced by the police in proving the 

 taking of scheduled birds. Police officers 

 are all agreed that they should have a right 

 of search in the case of birdcatchcrs as in 

 that of poachers. One experienced super- 

 intendent is of opinion that breaches of the 

 close-time law must inevitably continue until 

 all birdcatching is absolutely prohibited, and 

 all transit of live birds by rail stopped, 

 during close time. 



The amendments required to render the 

 Close Time Act effectual are, therefore : — 



1. The deleting of the words " recently 

 taken " from the Act of 1880 and the absolute 

 prohibition of the sale or transport of live 

 wild birds during that period. 



2. The granting to the police of a right to 

 search suspected individuals. 



3. The restriction of the right of bird- 

 catching in close time to owners and occupiers 

 and persons bona fide in their regular employ. 



usr usr The Plume Trade, jer ucr 



There appears little prospect of any 

 progress being made with Plumage Pro- 

 hibition legislation in Parliament this session. 

 A Bill, on somewhat different lines from that 

 of Lord Avebury which passed through the 

 House of Lords last year, has been introduced 

 into the House of Commons by Sir William 

 Anson. In place of prohibiting the importa- 

 tion of all feathers, with certain named 

 exceptions, it proposes to prohibit the posses- 

 sion for sale or exchange of the plumage or 

 skins of birds named in a schedule to the 

 Bill ; the list comprising Birds-of -Para- 

 dise, Herons, Owls, Ibises and Spoonbills, 

 Storks, Chatterers, Crowned Pigeons, Argus 

 and Impeyan Pheasants, Trogons, Lyre 

 Birds, Terns, and Rheas, and any bird pro- 

 tected by legislation in India or any British 

 dominion or in foreign countries. The Bill is 

 being actively opposed by the trade on the 

 lines of their opposition to Lord Avebury's 

 Bill. 



Mr. A. H. E. Mattingley, Secretary of the 

 Australasian Ornithologists' Union, writes 

 from Melbourne, April 1st, 1909 : — 



" The last twelve months have been momentous 

 in Australasia as regards the protection of our avi- 

 fauna. Stirred by the sight of enlarged photos 

 depicting the destruction of the Egrets in Australia, 

 which were exhibited in shop windows in leading 

 thoroughfares of our large cities, as well as by lantern 

 slides shown at public lectures, the Australian Press 

 nobly advocated the necessity for Federal action. 



" Backed by the influential Press, the Ornitho- 

 logists' Union arranged the most powerful deputation 

 ever organised for any purpose in Australia, having 

 the support of nearly all the scientific societies of 

 the different States of the Commonwealth. This 

 deputation waited on the Prime Minister, and 

 requested Federal legislation which would prevent 

 inter-State traffic in skins and plumes of birds pro- 

 tected in any one State. The Prime Minister 

 promised to have the minor power of prohibiting 

 the importation of plumes immediately enforced 

 throughout the Commonwealth and Papua. He 

 also promised to bring in a Bill to give him power 

 to prevent exportation also. Congratulating the 

 Ornithologists' Union on having arranged so power- 

 ful a deputation, he remarked that at the present 

 time a person who said that plumes found in his 

 possession had been obtained in a neighbouring 

 State was exempt from State laws. This meant 



