BIRDS OF INDIA DEWAR. 637 



Surgeon-General Bidie, in a pamphlet published eight years ago, 

 gives a list of thirty-two birds which are, or were, captured in South 

 India on account of their feathers. Some of these birds are to be 

 numbered among the best friends of the Indian husbandman. But, 

 inasmuch as the act of 1903 has come into force since Surgeon-Gen- 

 eral Bidie's paper was written, I do not propose to make it the basis 

 of the remarks I am about to offer. A safer foundation is that 

 afforded by the sales which have actually taken place in London of 

 recent years. Large numbers of the following Indian birds have been 

 sold in London since the passing of the act : Egrets, the " ospreys " 

 of the feather trade, Impeyan or monal pheasants, paroquets, king- 

 fishers, trogons, orioles, rollers, pittas, owls, jungle fowl and peafowl. 

 With the solitary exception of the paroquets, these are all good 

 friends of the Indian ryot. So that, notwithstanding recent legisla- 

 tion, the plume hunters are every year draining India of thousands 

 of what Sir Charles Lawson well calls " a watchful and efficient bird 

 police against multitudinous insect thieves." Thus, from a purely 

 economic point of view, apart from the cruelty it involves, the trade 

 in plumage birds is harmful to India. 



EXTINCTION OF BIRDS. 



There is also the question of the extinction of beautiful birds. 

 Wliether there is any danger of this I am not in a position to say, 

 for my stay in India has not been sufficiently long for me to be able 

 to form an opinion of the effect of this bird slaughter on the numbers 

 of the various species. But Sir Charles Lawson, writing in 1900, 

 states that " the continuous depredations, of a long series of years, 

 have woef ull}' reduced the means of supply (of birds' skins) , as any one 

 may notice for himself when he passes paddy fields, or strolls through 

 silent, because birdless, plantations or forests." It is certainly sig- 

 nificant that the beautiful Indian roller, or blue jay {Coracias indica) 

 is a rare bird about both Madras and Bombay, while he becomes more 

 plentiful as one goes inland. There seems to be no reason why this 

 species should not thrive right up to the seashore, so that I am forced 

 to attribute his scarcity on the coast near Bombay and Madras to the 

 depredations of the plume hunter. 



THE INDICTMENT AGAINST THE PLUME HUNTER. 



There are three counts in the indictment against this individual. 

 First, that he is causing to become extinct some of the most beautiful 

 of God's creatures. Second, that he is robbing the husbandman of 

 numbers of his most useful allies. Third, that he is guilty of much 

 cruelty. As regards count number one, thanks to the action of the 



