21 



to Houndsditch in the hopes of a bid from the Natural History 

 Museum ! But Houndsditch, it would seem, does not know 

 them when they come. Mr. Buckland cites an instance of twelve 

 of the rare blue, or Prince Rudolph Bird-of-Paradise being found 

 by him amongst the skins in Cutler Street; "10 Birds-of -Paradise, 

 blue, dull," being the catalogue description afforded of female 

 and unfledged male birds.* 



These are the birds, presumably, that come by units. Should 

 they be represented by, say, a couple of hundred in a year of 

 such a rare species as the Lyre-bird, we are asked to believe that 

 so small a number proves not that the bird is being extirpated 

 and larger numbers cannot be obtained but that as the trade 

 has secured so few it cannot be the plume-hunters who are 

 endangering the species ! 



The " Waste Material " Theory, 



Should, however, some species be represented by thousands 

 or tens of thousands, suggesting to scientific men the shooting 

 out of whole colonies, the upholders of the feather- trade argue, 

 with equal facilit}^ that if so many birds are to be had there must 

 be plenty left behind. If it is proved that birds are being reck- 

 lessly killed in one district, it is held to be a satisfactory answer 

 that there are unexplored wilds where the hunter has not pene- 

 trated yet. When American bird-lovers passionately denounce 

 the traders who have filched from them their Herons and Ibises 

 and Spoonbills, Mr. Downham seeks to soothe them with the 

 assurance that he has read in a recent book of the existence of 

 Herons and Spoonbills in Spain. According to this ingenious 

 spokesman of the trade, it is never, under any circumstances, the 

 trade that is at fault, never the trade which kills. At most it is 

 merely the dog which trots behind and picks up the birds, getting 

 the feathers by way of reward. When man opens up a new land, 

 we are assured, he naturally shoots " all that runs or flies," and 

 the plume-hunter follows in his wake in order to utilize " waste 

 material " in making ornaments " which some women insist 



* Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, December, 1909. 



