28 



Emu skins, wings of Sea-Swallows, hundreds and thousands of 

 quills ; and tumbled in among the " various bird-skins," which 

 have no names, will be found little Flycatchers and Cuckoos and 

 sober-plumaged bodies that seem to offer no special target for the 

 hunter. Very possibly in this mixed bag many a strange and 

 rare species is " knocked down " without recognition: for plume 

 dealers are not ornithologists. 



Game=Birds and Poultry. 



The trade dwells a good deal on the use made of game birds 

 and of poultry. This suggests the need of precaution in any 

 legislation. The Goura Pigeon of a single land, the Impeyan 

 Pheasant of the Himalayas, the Argus Pheasant, the Chinese 

 Pheasant, are included in the milliner's idea of " game." In 

 1899 the Society for the Protection of Birds in China (Shanghai) 

 memorialized the Government on the subject of " the great and 

 rapidly increasing destruction at present overtaking the Pheasant 

 in China " : 



" The trade to which we refer is that which, originating 

 in the exigencies of fashion, calls for the export of the entire 

 skin of the Pheasant, and its ravages, even at its present 

 initial rate, are sufficient to threaten the species with extinc- 

 tion. The necessities of such a trade recognize no c close 

 season ' ; feathers and skins taken in breeding time are well 

 suited to the requirements of the market." * 



Shore Birds. 



" There are included in the Limicolae several species 

 that are game birds in name only, their bodies being 

 so small that they possess no value whatever for food pur- 

 poses. Thousands and thousands of these beautiful 

 and graceful creatures have been slaughtered solely for their 

 plumage, their diminutive bodies not being considered of 

 enough value to send to market." Report of National 

 Audubon Association, 1906. 



* "Celestial Empire" (Shanghai), Sapt. 11, 1899, 



