76 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



UcT 



The Plume^Trade. 



usr 



THE TRAFFIC IN PLUMAGE FROM 

 INDIA. 



An exceptionally interesting statement of 

 the case for the Protection of Wild-Birds 

 in India versus the Traffic in Plumage, is 

 contributed to the Journal of the Bombay 

 Natural History Society (May 20th, 191 1) by 

 Mr. P. T. L. Dodsworth, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 

 Dealing first with the history of the Bird 

 Protection movement in British India, Mr. 

 Dodsworth shows how imperatively Lord 

 Curzon's Ordinance was called for by the 

 condition of things that existed prior to 1902. 

 The local governments were, it Avill be 

 remembered, asked to report on the extent 

 of the trade and the destruction of birds, 

 especially of insectivorous species. 



" The reiilies disclosed not only a serious, but a 

 most disastrous state of affairs. From all parts of 

 the country came the same cries of destruction and 

 diminution, which amounted to virtual extermina- 

 tion. Of Impeyan and Argus Pheasants throughout 

 the Himalayas, of Peacocks and Black Partridges 

 from Bombay, of Egrets from Sind and Burma, 

 and of a host of others, including Jungle-cocks, 

 Paddy-birds, Kingfishers, Jays, and Orioles through- 

 out India generally . . . reports showed that bii'ds 

 were netted and trapped, not by thousands but by 

 millions, without any regard to season or sex. 

 During the years 1895-1900, the total quantity and 

 value of feathers exported by sea from India 

 amoiinted to the gigantic total of l,149,3541bs., 

 representing a value of Rs. 1,551,831. 



After the issue of the Ordinance, a further 

 prohibition had to be issued to check exporta- 

 tion by means of the post, followed in 1907 

 by notifications empowering postal officials 

 to examine postal packets. But even these 

 stringent exportation laws, closing every 

 possible channel of export, have not wholly 

 stopped the trafiic, since the trade is a 

 lucrative one, and there is for the present no 

 check on the importation of smuggled goods 

 into English and other markets. 



Instances in which Egret plumes and 

 other feathers have been smuggled out of 



India for the London market were brought 

 before the House of Lords Committee in 1909. 

 Mr. Dodsworth gives further examples of 

 this illicit trade. During the years 1903-10, 

 no fewer than forty-nine cases of smuggling 

 were detected at the ports of Calcutta, 

 Bombay, Madras, and Burma. A brief 

 account of some of these is, as Mr. Dodsworth 

 observes, instructive as showing the methods 

 adoj)ted by smugglers engaged in the plume- 

 traffic : — 



In Bengal : — 



In April, 1903, a Chinese firm were caught 

 exporting a case of Kingfishers' skins, declared as 

 " Fishmaws." They were fined Rs. 1,000, and the 

 skins were confiscated. 



In October, 1904, another firm were caught 

 exporting three cases of Peacock feathers, declared 

 as " Indian curios." Fined Rs. 500, and the 

 feathers confiscated. 



In August, 1905, another Chinese fii-m were 

 detected exporting eighteen cases of Kingfishers' 

 skins as " Tobacco." An examination of their 

 books showed that since the prohibition of 1902, 

 they had made nine shipments of such goods. 

 Thoy were therefore fined Rs. 10,000. 



In the same year it came to fight that a German 

 firm in Calcutta had on various occasions smuggled 

 consignments of " Osprey," Heron, and Grey 

 Paddy-bii'ds' feathers to the value of Rs. 22,850, 

 intended for London, via Hamburg and Bremen. 

 Fined Rs. 7,500. 



In January, 1906, a Mohammedan jiresented a 

 shipping bill for " three baskets of slippers," which 

 really contained Kingfishers' skins. 



In June, 1906, a consignment of five parcels 

 containing "Osprey" feathers was posted in 

 Calciitta, addressed to Colombo, under the descrip- 

 tion of " Pieces of yellow cloth." This case is a 

 typical one, as illustrative of the procedure some- 

 times adopted by smugglers. When they find it 

 difficult to ship goods from a particular port, they 

 send them by post, and for fear of seizure, instead 

 of despatching them direct to a foreign address, 

 post them to some small Indian port, whence they 

 can be re-directed, or send them to a similar 

 intermediate destination by rail. 



From Bombay : — 



During 1907-8 two cases of smuggling occurred. 

 In one case forty-one packets of Egret feathers 

 from Rangoon were intercepted by the Post Office. 

 In the other case twenty-five boxes of Peacock 

 feathers were shipped for Europe from Singapore 

 as " country cotton goods." The identity of the 

 shippers was concealed, and they were traced with 

 much difficulty, 



