40 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



the trade did not greatly trouble themselves ; 

 they held up the little god labelled " fashion," 

 and they uttered soothing falsehoods about 

 " artificial plumes." But now that statesmen 

 have taken the question seriously in hand, 

 such tactics will not answer. Sale statistics 

 must be kept in the dark. Enquirers into 

 the whole facts of the case which have been 

 accumulating for thirty years, and \\hich 

 deal A\itli many parts of the world and with 

 nuiny species of birds, are to be assured that 

 a certain Mr. Leon Laglaize (who assuredly 

 is not now unknown to fame) tells quite 

 another story about certain Egret plumes 

 obtained in certain parts of Venezuela.* 



Readers of the National Review who saw 

 Mr. Do\Miham's article on " The Trade in 

 Feathers" in the November Number (1910) 

 will, it is hoped, also see the letter from 

 Mr. Montaga Sharpe in the December issue. 



It is impossible in this matter to overlook 

 the fact that on the one side is a large 

 body of people ^^•ho have no private end to 

 serve, but who are impelled by conscience, 

 humanity, and scientific knowledge to protest 

 against the exploitation of life and beauty 

 for an incredibly paltry purpose ; and on 

 the other side is an angry trade with its 

 profits in jeopardy. 



The Madras Mail, commenting in a leading 



article (September 12th, 1910) on a letter 



which it publishes from the Secretary of 



the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 



says : 



" At present, as most of our readers are aware, 

 there is an Indian Act forbidding the exj^ortation 

 of plumage from this country, but so long as this 

 market (Great Britain) remains ojDen and commerce 

 in dead biixls continues a jirofitable business, laws 

 against exjiortation will be more or less evaded. 

 We in India know well that this is true, and most 

 of us also know how cruel are the methods of some 

 of the so-called shikaris who kill or catch the 

 unfortunate birds whose plumage happens at the 

 moment to be in reqviest. For this reason, a book 

 which has recently been published in the interests 



* See R.S.P.B. Leaflet No. 61, "How Osprey 

 Feathers are Procured." 



of the plumage merchants, " Aigrettes and Bird- 

 skins," will evoke little sympathy in India. Indeed, 

 it would more probably be read with feelings of 

 derision or of ridicule on account of its erroneous 

 conclusions and fallacious arguments were its 

 subject not so patlietic." 



The Times (November 26th, 1910) comments 

 as follows on the Importation of Plumage 

 Prohibition Bill (framed and supported by 

 the R.S.P.B. as the result of a consultation 

 of Societies and individual workers held by 

 Lord Avebury's invitation) and on the 

 arguments of the trade : 



" In the evidence given before the House of 

 Lords Committee in 1908 the statements of the 

 feather merchants that the trade neither involved 

 'the cruel slaughter of birds in the midst of the 

 breeding season, nor threatened the extermination 

 of rare species, were conclusively disproved by 

 exjjert scientific evidence. Hunaan lives, as well as 

 those of birds, have been murderously sacrificed to 

 this industry. . . The most substantial objections 

 urged agamst the Bill were that the closing of the 

 London market to wild birds' plumage might divert 

 the traffic to the Continent, and deprive British 

 workers of their emi^loyment. It was shown, how- 

 ever, that the work of making up wild birds' 

 plumage was a mmor part of a general industry 

 dealing with ostrich feathers and other unobjection- 

 able forms of milUnery ; and there was little reason 

 to conclude that the exclusion of this particular 

 form of raw material would lead to the employment 

 of fewer hands. Lord Avebury's Bill was among 

 those which had ultimately to be sacrificed to the 

 pressure of more contentious business. It is much 

 to be hoped that its proposals may be passed into 

 law at the earliest possible opportimity which can 

 be found in the new Parliament for business of an 

 uncontentious character. A lead would thus be 

 given to other nations in a matter in which en- 

 lightened opinion on the European Continent is 

 accustomed to loolv to this comitry for initiative. 



"THE STORY OF THE EGRET." 



A novel and attractive method of ex- 

 hibiting these photographic enlargements 

 has been devisedby the Hon. E. S. O'Grady, 

 Hon. Sec. for Duffield, who had them on 

 view at the Parish Room, Duffield, last 

 month, amid a setting of handsome plants. 

 Mr. O'Grady himself acted as cicerone to 

 explain the pictures; and pamphlets, leaflets 

 and statistics were available for the use of 

 visitors. 



