10 



its guilt, have hitherto failed ; and, unless laws to stop it be 

 not only passed but enforced, it will go on till it ceases for 

 want of victims." 



This strong statement is referred to by Mr. Downham as* " a 

 theory which remains a theory for want of that element of sub- 

 stantiation which has so completely proved the theory already 

 dealt with " (the plume-hunter not being concerned with Hamp- 

 stead and Tooting) and, adds the writer, " the sentimentalist 

 suppressing the proved theory, has seized upon this." What the 

 sentimentalist may have done, it is unnecessary to consider ; but 

 persons of common sense will assuredly not tilt at circumstances 

 which are wholly or partly irremediable ; they will simply strive 

 the harder to save that remnant of wild life which is being 

 persecuted to death for a useless and preventable purpose. 



The Society for the Protection of Birds. 



In 1889 the Society for the protection of Birds was established 

 in succession to one or two previously formed leagues,- which 

 sought to band women together to resist plume- wearing on account 

 of the cruelty and destruction involved. The Society, as its 

 programme avowed from the first, " was called into existence 

 by the ruthless destruction of birds, especially those with orna- 

 mental plumage, which has been carried on for years all over the 

 world in order to satisfy the demands of a barbarous fashion in 

 millinery." From that time to the present it has continued to 

 publish the facts as to the " fancy-feather " business, and the 

 effect of that business on the bird-life of the world. These facts, 

 especially those relating to the Egret and Heron, have been 

 stated and commented on in almost every newspaper of any 

 standing. Similar societies have been formed in other European 

 countries. 



"The Times." 



In 1893 Mr. W. H. Hudson, the author of " The Naturalist in 

 La Plata " and " Argentine Ornithology " who had already 

 described in a pamphlet written for the S.P.B.t, the nesting 



* " The Feather Trade," p. 23. 



f " Osprey ; or, Egrets and Aigrettes." S.P.B. Leaflet No. 3. 



