THE PLUMAGE QUESTION. 



Nearly thirty years have now passed since an organised 

 effort was begun in this country to discourage the fashion of 

 wearing the plumage of beautiful wild birds. The late Mr. 

 George Musgrave, in the year 1885, founded the Selborne 

 Society for the preservation of birds of beautiful plumage ; 

 rare and useful birds ; and pleasant places.* About the 

 same time, namely, on December the 18th of that year, 

 the Rev. F. O. Morris wrote to The Times advocating the 

 formation of a Plumage League and this became the plumage 

 section of the Selborne Society. From the comments made 

 by the Editor of The Gentleman's Magazine upon a letter 

 received from Mr. Musgrave, we gather that the latter had 

 learned the difficulty of enforcing protective Acts and relied 

 upon persuasion to overcome the results of fashion. 



A prospectus of the Selborne Society, dated December, 

 1885, states that its object was to discourage the wholesale 

 destruction of birds, and that the trade had plenty of material 

 available "in the feathers of birds killed for food, the 

 game birds of the world, and of birds farmed or protected 

 for their plumage." The support which the Society got 

 from public men like Tennyson, Avebury, Leighton, John 

 Ruskin, and Robert Browning, as well as from many lady 

 members of the aristocracy, enabled it to wield considerable 

 influence, and to arouse an interest in the preservation of 

 birds. 



One result of this was that in the year 1889, a special 

 Society (now the Royal Society) for the Protection of Birds 

 was brought into existence. Its object that bears upon 

 the plumage question reads as follows : — " To discourage the 

 wanton destruction of birds and the wearing of feathers of 

 any bird not killed for the purposes of food, other than the 

 Ostrich, but to take no part in the question of the killing of 

 game birds and legitimate sport of that character." Of recent 

 years the energies of this Society have been directed towards 

 obtaining legislation which will prevent the importation of 

 plumage, but none of the Bills which have been produced have 

 become law ; for it is obvious that without some international 

 agreement, the trade in feathers, which is not an incon- 

 siderable one, belonging to this country would simply be 

 transferred to the Continent. 



In the meantime fashions which call for feathers still 

 prevail, and the killing of birds goes on. A moment's thought 

 shows that it is to the interest of the plumage trade that the 

 supply of feathers for which there is demand should not fail 

 through the extinction of the species producing them. The 

 result of domesticating the Ostrich has been little short of 

 marvellous from the commercial point of view, and it seemed 

 possible that if the naturalists and the traders were to 

 find some common programme, even if their ultimate objects 

 were by no means the same, something might be done to save 

 species in immediate danger of extermination. 



Mr. S. L. Bensusan, the well-known writer, and the Secretary 

 of the Selborne Society happened to discuss the matter 

 informally, and the latter brought it before the Council of the 

 Society which empowered him and Mr. Holte Macpherson to 

 confer with others including members of the trade. The 

 result, after much delicate negotiation, was the formation of 

 the Committee for the Economic Preservation of Birds. On 

 this body there are members specially appointed by the 

 Selborne Society and also by the London Chamber of 

 Commerce. The British Ornithologists' Union has accepted 

 the invitation to appoint a delegate, but the Royal Society for 

 the Protection of Birds has not yet done so. As will be seen 

 from the list which we print below, many of the leading 

 zoologists have joined the Committee which is hard at work 

 collecting information bearing on the question. 



Quite recently (on August the 4th) another Bill was brought 

 before the House of Commons forbidding the importation of 

 any plumage except that of Ostriches and Eider Ducks. 

 Licences may be granted for the importation of specimens 

 for museums and for scientific research, but no provision is 

 made for the obtaining of feathers by fly-fishermen. The bill 



is open to the same objection as has been raised in previous 

 cases ; moreover, plumage forming part of wearing apparel 

 can be brought in by the owners, and birds may be imported 

 alive. If any attempt is made to bring in living specimens 

 for trade purposes the amount of mortality will be very great 

 and the result of the bill if it becomes law will be to encourage 

 the killing of British birds for their plumage, though the 

 Secretaries of State and the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland are 

 given power by the Bill to make orders for the protection of 

 wild birds independently of County and Borough Councils, 

 probably with an eye to remedying the possible evil results 

 to which allusion has just been made. 



THE COMMITTEE FOR THE ECONOMIC 

 PRESERVATION OF BIRDS. 



F. G. Aflalo, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. 

 t+S. L. Bensusan. 

 Professor Gilbert Bourne, D.Sc, F.R.S., Sec. L.S. 



(University of Oxford). 

 Walter E. Collinge, M.Sc, F.L.S., F.E.S. 

 Professor A. Denny, M.Sc. (University of Sheffield). 

 fC. F. Downham (Member of the London Chamber of 



Commerce). 

 F. Martin Duncan, F.R.P.S., F.R.M.S. 

 +G. K. Dunstall (Member of the London Chamber of 



Commerce). 

 Professor James Cossar Ewart, M.D., F.R.S. (University 



of Edinburgh). 

 Professor F. W. Gamble, D.Sc, F.R.S., F.Z.S., (University 



of Birmingham). 

 Professor J. Stanley Gardiner, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



(University of Cambridge). 

 Professor Marcus Hartog, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S. (University 



College, Cork). 

 W. D. Henderson, M.A., B.Sc, Ph.D. (University of 



Bristol). 

 Professor J. P. Hill, D.Sc, F.L.S., F.Z.S. (University of 



London). 

 Matthew Davenport Hill, M.A., F.Z.S. (Eton College). 

 H. Knight Horsfield. 



COLLINGWOOD INGRAM. 



tLouiS Joseph (Member of the London Chamber of 



Commerce). 

 fProfessor H. Maxwell Lefroy (Imperial College of 



Science), 

 +A. Holte Macpherson, M.A., B.C.L., F.Z.S. (Vice- 

 President of the Selborne Society). 

 Professor A. Meek, M.Sc, F.L.S. (University of Durham). 

 |P. Chalmers Mitchell, LL.D., D.Sc, F.R.S. (Secretary 



of the Zoological Society of London). 

 tC. E. Musgrave (Secretary of the London Chamber of 

 Commerce). 

 Professor Robert Newstead, M.Sc, F.R.S., A. L.S. 

 (University of Liverpool). 

 ■(Hubert H. Poole (Librarian of the Selborne Society). 

 Hugh Scott, M.A., F.L.S. (University Museum of Zoology, 

 Cambridge). 

 tW. Lutley Sclater, M.A. (British Ornithologists' Union). 

 C. G. Seligmann, M.B., F.R.C.P. (University of London). 

 The Rev. Thomas R. R. Stebbing, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S. 

 Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson, C.B., D.Litt. (University 



College, Dundee). 

 H. W. Marett Tims, M.A., M.D., F.L.S., F.Z.S. (University 



of London). 

 I [Wilfred Mark Webb, F.L.S., F.R.M.S. (Secretary of the 



Selborne Society). 

 W. Percival Westell, F.L.S., M.B.O.U. 

 Marcus Woodward. 



The Honorary Secretaries, who may be addressed c/o The 

 Selborne Society, 42, Bloomsbury Square, would be very glad 

 to have the names of others who would care to join the 

 Committee. 



* The Gentleman's Magazine, December, 1885, page 619. 

 t Members of the Executive Committee. { Honorary Secretaries. 



357 



