456 Notes and News. [oc^ 



tion or serious diminution of that species as a British bird," will render 

 himself liable to have his name erased from the list of members without the 

 assignment of any reason. He can, however, stand for reelection at the 

 next annual meeting of the Union. Such radical measures, by an organiza- 

 tion dominated by leading ornithologists, for the protection of waning 

 species, indicates that ornithologists, as such, are not apathetic in the 

 matter of bird protection. 



From information recently published in 'The Emu,' it appears that the 

 Lyre Birds of Australia are approaching extinction, having been killed for 

 their beautiful tails, which are much sought after as an article of commerce. 

 Steps have now been taken to prevent the total extinction of these beautiful 

 birds, yet the slaughter is said still to go on. It is not long ago, according 

 to Mr. S. W. Jackson, "that in a locality in the northeast of New South 

 Wales a party of vandals organized a sort of Lyre-Bird ' drive ' ; surround- 

 ing a patch of scrub in which the birds were common, and setting fire to it, 

 they shot down the unfortunate birds as they struggled through one pitiless 

 ring of fire only to meet their death in another. Finally the tails were 

 cut off and the bodies left to rot, much as the victims of Red Indian 

 warfare are scalped and abandoned." 



We are glad to learn that important restrictions have been placed on 

 the export of the plumage of " Birds-of-Paradise, Goura Pigeons, and 

 Osprey" (Egrets), from New Guinea. An Act of the Territory of Papua, 

 passed in October, 1908, renders it unlawful "to export or take, or send 

 out of the Territory the skin, feathers, or plumage" of any such bird with- 

 out the "written consent obtained beforehand" of the Collector or other 

 principal officer of Customs of the Territory. Furthermore, on the 5th 

 of June, 1909, the Governor General (William Humble, Earl of Dudley) 

 of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal 

 Executive Council, issued a proclamation rendering unlawful the importa- 

 tion into the Commonwealth, of the plumage of any such birds except 

 with the written permission of the Collector of Customs of the Territory of 

 Papua. It is to be hoped that similar steps will be taken by other govern- 

 ments to check the export, and thus the wholesale slaughter, of 'plume 

 birds,' not only in New Guinea, but in other tropical islands and countries. 



The Twenty-seventh Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union will be held at the American Museum of Natural History in New 

 York, beginning on the evening of December 6, 1909. The evening 

 session will be for the election of officers and members, and for the trans- 

 action of routine business. Tuesday and the following days of the session 

 will be devoted to the presentation and discussion of scientific papers and 

 will be open to the public. Members intending to present communi- 

 cations should forward the titles to the Secretary, Mr. John H. Sage, 

 Portland, Conn., in time to reach him not later than December 2. 



