16 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



UCT 



The Plume Trade. 



UcT 



The Times of June lltli publishes the 

 following statement : " We are glad to know 

 that the subject of the protection of plumage 

 birds is receiving earnest attention in official 

 quarters in this country. 



" Lord Crewe, Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies, has had the matter under his con- 

 sideration for some time past, and at his 

 suggestion a committee has been formed Of 

 representatives of the Colonial Office and of 

 the Natural History Museum at South 

 Kensington with a view of considering how 

 far it may be possible to devise means, 

 either by legislation or by departmental 

 control, to prevent the indiscriminate 

 slaughter of plumage birds now rife in 

 certain parts of the British Empire. 



" Action of this kind can only be effective 

 if the co-operation of all the Governments 

 within the British Empire is secured, and 

 this it is hoped to obtain." 



A further victory has been gained by the 

 Audubon Societies of the United States by 

 the passing of the Plumage Bill for New York 

 State, prohibiting the sale or possession in 

 that State of the plumage of the Egret, Heron, 

 and other birds. 



The millinery question in the States is on 

 a very different footing from that which it 

 occupies in Great Britain, owing to the fact 

 that in America ornamental-plumaged birds 

 are largely represented by native species, 

 whereas in this country almost the whole of 

 the plumage, for which London forms the 

 great central mart of the world, is imported 

 from other countries and is procured by the 

 destruction of birds w^hich are not to be found 

 in Great Britain. Consequently American 



law provides only for the prohibition of trade 

 in the skins and plumage of American birds, 

 and this law is effectual to a great extent. 

 A similar British law would do little to 

 protect ornamental-plumaged birds unless 

 combined with a general law prohibiting 

 importation of plumage. Even in the States 

 it necessarily means the omission of some 

 species which badly need protection, such 

 for instance, as the Bird-of-Paradise ; but 

 these are omitted in the New York and other 

 State Acts simply because they are not on 

 the list of American birds, and not (as 

 comments in some English papers have 

 intimated) because of any contention as to 

 the inclusion of this or that family of birds. 

 On this point Mr. Dutcher, Chairman of the 

 National Association of Audubon Societies, 

 wrote to the R.S.P.B. :— 



" We were compelled to exempt the feathers of 

 the Bird-of-Paradise, because, under the decisions 

 of the highest courts in this country, we could only 

 include birds that had at least one member of the 

 family resident in the State of New York. Unfor- 

 tunately there is no member of the family to which 

 the Bird-of-Paradise belongs resident in America, 

 let alone New York State ; therefore we could not 

 give these birds protection, although we are quite 

 as anxious to do so as you are." 



Another instance of the " murderous 

 millinery," which under this law can still 

 be offered for the adornment of American 

 women, is furnished to the R.S.P.B. by 

 Mr. Dutcher. This is an article known as 

 the " Chanticler bow," and it forms perhaps 

 the most ghastly of the whole cycle of 

 charnel-house " ornaments " put together 

 by cynical traders for the wear of the gentle 

 sex. On a dainty neck-bow of pleated blue 

 silk is glued the decapitated head of a Sky- 

 lark — just the head, with the crest laid flat» 

 the beak open, and the staring eyes of yellow 



