82 



NATURE 



[March i6, 191 i 



ofjrets and other birds are beinjj protected, and that 

 thence, "as for many years it has bi-en known in 

 the trade, a f^reat part of the supply is obtained by 

 (X)llectinj* the feathers naturally shed by the birds . . . 

 the iipitiidn (th«' italics are the reviewer's] of those in 

 the trade is that considerably more than two-thirds 

 of the supply is so obtained." 



These statements are attested by three witnesses : 

 M. K. (ieay (now dead); M. Leon I^a>,'laize, who, in 

 beinj*, as it appears, a buyer for a firm of dealers, is 

 scarcely as unprejudiced a witness as might be de- 

 sired; and .M. (irisol. Ajji'ainst their testimony must 

 be set that sent to the Rov.'d Socieiy for the Protec- 

 tion of Hirds by H.M. Minister at Caracas (dated 

 janu.'iry, ic)oc)), who emphatically asserts that 

 M. I.aglaize "j^ives ;i completely erroneous impres- 

 sion of the conditions under which the industry of 

 collectinj* plumes is conducted in Venezuela"; of the 

 Consul at Rosario, .'ind of various scientific men, 

 .'unonj; them. Mr, Ouelch (a well-known naturalist, 

 formerly on the staff of the British Museum), who 

 describes the hidet>usly cruel manner of taking 

 the plumes, and declares that "during a residence 

 of seventeen years in British Guiana ... I have 

 never known or heard of any such method of col- 

 lection as that described bv M. Laglaize" ; of Mr. 

 Dresser, author of "The Birds of Europe"; and of 

 Mr. F. Chapman, the distincfuished ornitholoj:^ist of 

 the .\merican Museum of Natural History in New- 

 York. These witnesses are convinced that the 

 "moulted plume" theory is as fallacious as the 

 ".irtificial ai^'retto " defence, and ornithologists know 

 that etjrets do not line their nests with their own 

 nuDtial plumes. 



It is sifiifnificant that the collectors' busy time in 

 the swamps is the height of the breeding season. 

 The egrets assume their nuptial plumes before that 

 period begins in August, and shed them only about 

 October, till when there can Ix few — if any — plumes 

 on the ground to gather. It is well known also that 

 by that date the "aigrettes" have, by reason of wear 

 and tear, become of little or no commercial value. 



We find it stated by Mr. Downham that the fancy 

 feather trade has its mainstay in poulterers' refuse 

 and plumes of game birds killed for food; and then 

 by the traders' own testimony. Are not the "aigrettes" 

 wholly artificial? Why all this great outcry that their 

 entire business is in peril should an .Xct be passed 

 airainst the import of our finer plumat^ed bird-skins? 

 The true eijret imports can consequently have onlv a 

 negligible influence on their market. " It has been 

 obvious to everyone that during the past vear feathers 

 have been worn in women's hats in greater profusion 

 than ever, and that few of them have been those of 

 game or barn-door fowls. Lyre-bird, .Argus and Hima- 

 layan pheasant, flamingo, peacock, robin, jav, king- 

 fisher, goldfinch, trogon, bird of paradise, and goura 

 nigeon have come under the writer's own notice. 

 Some hats, indeed, were entirelv composed of British 

 bird-skins. From Venezeula alone in iqo8, 255,900 

 egrets were ( xported, and necessarily a large propor- 

 tion of the otTspring of these birds was sacrificed. 



Mr. Downham 's pamphlet contains short notes on 

 the best-known species of paradise birds by Mr. 

 A. E. Pratt, about which, we mav be allowed n word 

 from ,^n ornithologist's point of' view. It would be 

 interesting to have the evidence — no doubt in his 

 nossession— for the statements he makes that these 

 birds are three years old before thev produce 

 marketable plumes, and that the Aru' islanders 

 watch over the Paradisea at>oda until thev have 

 att.'iined that age. We should hesitate to accept as 

 a fact, without verv strong evidence, that the Papuan 

 Avill stay his hand against any living creature he 

 NO. 2159, VOL. 86] 



wants when his opportunity occurs, in hope of son'.-j 

 other, d.'iy meeting it in better condition, and with 

 the chance that his neighbour will forestall him. 'I!i' 

 fact that the collections of birds b\' native huntt 1 

 contain mature and immature skins in e(|ual abund- 

 ance militates strongly against such a belief. 



Our observations upon the Fancy Feather trad^ 

 already written before the Pros and Cons t)i 1 1 

 Plumage ^Bill reached our hands. .Ml who are doi;t' 

 ful as to their support of this Bill should read Mi. 

 James Buckland's pamphlet. 'Ihe cruelty of thf 

 plumage collector's methods and the enormity of their 

 slaughterings as here set out will appal th- 

 reader. He substantiates with exact chapter amf 

 verse the precise manner in which the Indian Plumav 

 Bill is systematically evaded by the native plume cci 

 lectors, because the import of feathers into London i-- 

 so free and unprohibited. Mr. Downham, in his C.is' 

 for the Defence, attempted to impune Mr. Buckland - 

 statement made in 1909 that i,5(X),o(X) egrets had 

 been slaughtered in 1908 in Venezuela alone, 1 

 asserting that the customs export returns at Ciud;i 

 Bolivar were untrustworthy on the point. The British 

 Minister, however, corroborates fully Mr. Bucklan<l, 

 and cuts from beneath them one more of th. 

 doubtful testimony of the plume traders, by statins 

 in his report for that year: — "This [the destruction 1 

 egrets] is really appalling. ... If. therefore, we tak 

 the average, the number of birds killed last year w. 

 1,538,738; but if we take the highest number it w.. 

 2,469,930, and even the lowest accounts for tli 

 slaughter of 610,385." Nir. Downham also deni' 

 that egret feathers come from Australia. If this be - 

 now, it must be because the heronries have been shi 

 out. Mr. Buckland is able to adduce an eye-witnc- 

 in Mr. Mattingley, the .Australian ornithologist, 1 

 the methods practised by the Commonwealth gunner-, 

 in everv respect similar in crueltv and ruthlessness to 

 those of their brethren in Venezuela and elsewhere. 

 Above we have thrown doubt upon the statements of 

 Mr. Laglaize, adduced by Mr. Downham, as to the 

 protection of the heronries in Venezuela and to the 

 collecting of the plumes from the nests. Mr. Buck- 

 land goes so far as to assert that, " For sheer 

 power and majesty of lying these statements excel 

 anvthing ever achieved bv .Ananias, even at his 

 best." 



Mr. Buckland gives equally appalling details as to 

 the destruction of gulls, terns, herons, grebes, pelicans, 

 swans, geese, ducks, ibises, birds of paradise, goura 

 piireons. and humming-birds, in every region of the 

 globe. "Great heaps, waist high, of dead Diomcdea 

 itnmiitabilis, and of the black-footed albatross"; "On 

 Marcus Island a party had wiped out of existence one 

 of the largest albatross colonies in the Pacific," are a 

 couple of extracts from him as to the operations of 

 those who labour for the adornment of English ladies. 

 Mr. Buckland's pamphlet supports also our doubt, ex- 

 pressed above, as to the Papuan hesitating to spare 

 anv bird he comes across, because it is immature. 



It is abundantly evident, therefore, that the testi- 

 monv, sworn statements, and various excuses brought 

 forward in their attempts to represent this nefarious 

 trade as a pure and legitimate industry, by the textile 

 trade section of the London Chamber of Commerce, 

 are sadly wanting, both in cogency and in veracity. 



These latest attempts will, we trust, fail, like the 

 others thev have set up, to delay the Plumage Bill, 

 introduced in the House of Commons on February 22, 

 from becoming law " at the earliest possible oppor- 

 tunity," as The Times of November 26, 1910. so 

 stronglv urges, "which can be found in the new Par- 

 liament for business of an uncontentious character." 



