246 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



portation of such plumage. Mr. Oldys pointed out that the 

 slaughter of birds for millinery purposes was then greater 

 than at any time in the history of the world ; that the United 

 States was one of the chief markets for such plumage if not 

 the largest ; that the State laws aimed against the traffic were 

 proving ineffective ; and that many species of birds in Amer- 

 ican and other countries were being rapidly exterminated 

 by the trade. Australia already had adopted a similar plan 

 to check the slaughter, in the belief that no other remedy 

 would be so effectual. A little later, while in Washington 

 to press the passage of the McLean-Weeks bill, I accom- 

 panied Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson in interviewing congressmen 

 with a view of obtaining a hearing for this cause before the 

 ways and means committee. This request was not granted 

 at once, but later, when many members of the Audubon so- 

 cieties from many States joined in the request to the ways 

 and means committee, an appointment was made for a hear- 

 ing, and on Jan. 30, 1913, three different amendments to 

 schedule ]^ of the tariff bill were presented before the com- 

 mittee by Dr. William T. Hornaday for the ISTew York 

 Zoological Society, Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson for the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies and Dr. G. W. Field for 

 the Commissioners on Fisheries and Game of Massachusetts. 

 The proviso of the K'ew York Zoological Society was 

 finally reported by the committee. It reads as follows : — 



Provided, that the importation of aigrettes, egret plumes, or 

 " osprey " plumes, and the feathers, quills, heads, wings, tails, skins 

 or parts of skins, of wild birds, either raw or manufactured, and 

 not for scientific or educational purposes, is hereby prohibited, but 

 this provision shall not apply to the feathers or plumes of ostriches, 

 or to the feathers of domestic fowls of any kind. 



This was incorporated in the tariff bill when the bill was 

 reported on April 6, and passed with the bill by the House 

 of Representatives on May 8. In the meantime the feather 

 importers had been stirring up the millinery trade to oppose 

 the measure, and seeing that they could not defeat it in the 

 national House of Representatives they turned their atten- 

 tion to the Senate. 



