BIRD NOTES wo NEWS 



Jssueo <§uartcrln by the Hotial j^orictn for tbe protection of |?troa. 



Vol. III.— No. 8.] London : 23, Queen Anne's Gate, S.W. 



[DEC. 31, 1909. 



THE EGRET'S NEST. 



EADERS of Bird Notes and 

 News will be aware that among 

 the legends circulated as excuses 

 for the trade in " osprey " feathers 

 is one to the effect that these feathers are 

 used by the bird to line its nest and are 

 taken thence by the plume-hunter at the 

 end of the nesting season. This ingenious 

 notion is, of course, adopted from the history 

 of eider-down, but considerably improved 

 upon in the process. The Eider-duck plucks 

 the soft down from her own breast in order 

 to line the nest, and to envelop and keep 

 warm the eggs during incubation ; the down 

 is collected forthwith by the fowlers of the 

 district, whereupon the bird strips herself 

 still further for the benefit of the precious 

 eggs. This is not perhaps particularly 

 pleasant for the bird, but the story is at 

 least a credible one, even if it were not 

 circumstantiated by familiar knowledge. 

 The improved version of the Egret-hunter 



must, however, form a considerable trial of 

 faith even to the most credulous, since it sets 

 forth that the Egret plucks the long train of 

 feathers from its own back for the lining of 

 the nest ; and that these slender delicate 

 plumes, after having been entangled for 

 weeks amid rough sticks and trampled upon 

 and soiled by a family of young birds, are 

 extricated by the plume-hunter for the 

 adornment of my lady's hat ! 3i et this is 

 the statement made by that eminent 

 apologist of the trade, Mr. Leon Laglaize,. 

 and the "nest-feather" has found its way 

 into the worthy company of the " moulted 

 plume" and the "artificial osprey." 



" After the breeding season," says Mr. 

 Laglaize, 



" the abandoned nests are searched, and a valuable 

 amount of feathers is collected there ; the feathers 

 have been skilfully rolled in to furnish and soften 

 the interior of the nest. These nest feathers are 

 of the best kind, for they have been pulled off by 

 the bird itself before laying the eggs." 



