ORNAMENTAL PLUMES 165 



slaughter continued without abatement for many 

 years ! . 



The European markets are still glutted with 

 plumes and skins, although most countries forbid 

 the killing of their own birds for this purpose. 

 Before the war England alone imported more 

 than thirty-five million skins a year. A single 

 invoice of hummingbird skins from South 

 America has totaled as high as four hundred 

 thousand. In 1895, upward of seven hundred and 

 fifty thousand plumes of egrets and birds of para- 

 dise were sold from a single London warehouse. 

 Sixteen years later, not because the demand was 

 less but because the wild birds were becoming 

 scarce, only one hundred and fifty thousand of 

 these plumes were sold in that city by the four 

 leading feather dealers. Virtually all the coun- 

 tries in the world, save those in Europe and 

 America, sent their wares to the London market. 



IMPORTS OF FEATHERS AND DOWN 

 ORNAMENTAL) FOR THE YEAR 1910 * 



Pounds Value 



Venezuela 8,398 $ 191,058 



Brazil 787 5,999 



Japan 2,284 3,830 



China 6,329 16,308 



Tripoli 345 900 



iHornaday, "Our Vanishing Wild Life." 



