No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 379 



of the great economic importance of the latter, only wait anxiously 

 that England may also get its feather importation law. We certainly 

 will follow. 



The International Council of Women, held in Rome on May 

 10, 1914, pledged itself, by a resolution offered by one of the 

 English delegates, to try to secure legislation in all countries 

 to prevent the destruction of birds for dress omaments. A 

 movement was started by Mr. Buckland in Holland to pass a 

 plumage bill there. The Hobhouse plumage bill took its second 

 reading in the British House of Commons on May 19, 1914, by 

 a vote of 297 to 15, but was finally defeated by the obstructive, 

 retarding efforts of its opponents, in spite of the Prime Min- 

 ister's "plea on July 23, 1914, that it be allowed to pass by 

 consent. Then, on August 1 came the European war, and soon, 

 with half the world at war, all thoughts of bird protection came 

 to an end. The distraction caused by the war has delayed and 

 may yet defeat the proposed treaty between Great Britain and 

 the United States for the protection of migratory birds, and the 

 antipathies engendered by war may put off for years any under- 

 standing among the nations for the mutual protection of birds 

 in any way. Until peace is declared nothing further can be 

 done abroad. Therefore it remains to accomplish in the in- 

 terim all that is possible here, by educational work, to secure 

 respect for the laws that we have. 



During the fight for the plumage bill in England the Inter- 

 national Plume Dealers' Association was particularly active. 

 At its international Congress, held in Paris, it passed resolu- 

 tions urging the repeal of the section of the United States tariff 

 act prohibiting the importation of plumage and the similar 

 legislation in Canada. A determined attempt to modify or re- 

 peal these provisions must be expected. A sample of the kind 

 of measures resorted to by the plumage trade is shown in the 

 formation of the economic committee for the protection of birds, 

 which grew and flourished for a time in England while the fight 

 for the plumage bill was on. This committee was organized by 

 the plumage trade and financed by feather dealers, mainly, to 

 defeat the bill. It was the old story over again of the wolf 

 taking care of the sheep. It is even intimated that friends of 



