29 



from which we cannot proliibit exportation. But if the im- 

 portation into our country is stopped other Governments may 

 follow suit. Representations to foreign countries are much 

 more likely to be effectual if made by a Government which has had 

 the courage of its convictions, and has already put its principles 

 into practice. Unfortunately, owing to pressure of other 

 business, the Bill has not succeeded in receiving a second reading 

 in the Lower House. 



The wearing of plumes for ornament is a survival of a barbaric 

 age ; just as much as the wearing of such adornments as nose- 

 rings and ear-rings, which usually entail mutilation. It Mill 

 be a long time before such forms of female decoration cease, 

 but when the point is reached at which the extermination of rare 

 and beautiful species is threatened, interference on scientific 

 and humanitarian grounds is amply justified. Nevertheless 

 great care must be exercised in interfering with any practice 

 which is ancient and widely spread. Not very long ago a South 

 American tribe was found whose members wore no clothes 

 whatever, but they hung shells from the nose, ears and under-lip, 

 and stuck a Macaw's feather into a hole made at each corner of 

 the mouth.* Now those Macaw's feathers represent the fashion 

 of feather ornament for the head in its simplest form. How 

 great a distance separates them from the last link in the chain of 

 development — the " Merry Widow " hat ! 



There is no reason why the preparation of the plumage of 

 birds used as articles of diet and the manufacture of artificial 

 feathers should not between them provide in the future all that 

 fashion can demand and give employment to at least as many 

 hands as are now engaged in the millinery trade. Judging by the 

 development of artificial flowers for the same purpose, the manu- 

 facture of feathers appears to be an industry which has hitherto 

 been neglected, and one which should have a considerable future. 

 Moreover, unless the fashion greatly changes, it is one of the 

 few futures bound to come ; for even if the present perpetual 

 massacre cannot be checked by law, it must sooner or later 

 cease, as the late Professor Newton said, " for want of 

 victims." 



SCHEDULES OF "USEFUL" OR "INJURIOUS" BIRDS. 



In much of the legislation on the subject an attempt has been 

 made to indicate by lists or schedules the particular species of 

 birds deemed to be worthy of protection or otherwise. The 

 former course is the one generally adopted, though, as we have 



* See Dr. E. B. Tylor's " Anthropology," p. 241. 



