NA TURE 



553 



THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 18S6 



BIRD-MURDER 



A \'ERY urgent appeal to the public has just been 

 issued in America by our contemporary Science, 

 which journal has attached to its issue of February 26 a 

 special " Supplement " devoted to the question of " the 

 present wholesale destruction of bird-life in the United 

 States." Powerful articles have been written by Messrs. 

 J. A. Allen, W. Dutcher, and G. B. Bennett, three pro- 

 minent American ornithologists, in which the facts have 

 been plainly set forward, remedial legislation proposed, 

 ending with an " appeal to the women of the country on 

 behalf of the birds." 



The American Ornithologists' Union has also appointed 

 a " Committee on Bird-Protection," and from the names 

 of the gentlemen who are serving on it, it is quite certain 

 that practical remedies will be forced on the consideration 

 of the American people, and that energetic efforts will be 

 made to preserve the birds from destruction. But it is 

 equally certain that a corresponding effort must be made 

 by civilised nations on this side of the water, if remedial 

 measures are to have a real efl'ect, and we are glad to 

 find that steps are being taken to attract public attention 

 to the gross scandal which now exists in our midst. A 

 " Selborne Society" has been formed, of which Mr. G. A. 

 Musgrave, of 45, Holland Park, is the secretary, and of 

 which H R.H. Princess Christian is a patron, for the pro- 

 tection of birds. Invoking the shade of the gentle Gilbert 

 White of Selborne, this Society may hope to prevail some- 

 what with the English nation, which would undoubtedly 

 protest with the same vehemence on behalf of the small 

 songsters of England, as it did some years ago on behalf 

 of the sea-birds, if the facts are but put plainly forward. 

 We are certain that if the women of this country- only 

 knew the real state of the case, the senseless and savage 

 decorations now in vogue would be regarded with disgust 

 and loathing. The Selborne Society has but just com- 

 menced its labours, but already many excellent well- 

 wishers have joined it, and it numbers amongst its mem- 

 bers many names famous in society, in art, in literature, 

 and in science. 



There is scarcely a portion of the world which is not 

 being devastated of its birds at the present moment to 

 minister to the fashionable wants of the women of Europe 

 and America, and it is as well that the root of the evil 

 should be recognised at once. This has been done in 

 America, and the point must be insisted on again and 

 again in this country, that the vanity of womankind is 

 in this enlightened age the cause of the " wholesale de- 

 struction of bird-life " on this side of the Atlantic as 

 much as in America. Nor is it confined to the 

 higher classes. The difference between the factory- 

 girl and the high-born lady as regards the question of 

 bird-feather decoration is only one of degree, the former 

 paying as many halfpence for the starling's wing in its 

 natural state as the latter does in shillings for the same 

 article dyed or gilt out of recognition as it may be. New 

 Guinea and the Papuan Islands are being despoiled 

 of the birds of paradise, India and Africa of their sun- 

 birds and rollers. Southern Europe of its bee-eaters, until 

 Vol. XXXIII. — No. 859 



every one of these countries is being exhausted of its 

 feathered denizens. It is no longer the brightly-plumaged 

 species which are being laid under contribution, for, as 

 exhaustion has begun to limit the supply, the soberly-clad 

 birds are now being shot down in thousands to minister 

 to "fashion" in this country. Thus any one with a 

 knowledge of birds has only to walk down any fashion- 

 able thoroughfare in London, and note the materials with 

 which the bulk of the hats in the milliners' shops are 

 decorated, to see that robins, sparrows, larks, and star- 

 lings are a staple commodity with the trade in this 

 country. Dyed they are in most cases, and occasionally 

 relieved by the wings of some Indian "jay" {i.e. roller), 

 or African " merle " (glossy starhnj) or sun-bird, or it 

 may be with a few " osprey " feathers. These last are 

 the long breeding-plumes of the egrets, which are deve- 

 loped only during the nesting season, and the slaughter 

 amongst these birds at that time of the year must be 

 something incredible. No wonder that Mr. Allen com- 

 plains that the " swamps and marshes of Florida have 

 been depopulated of their egrets and herons." It is not 

 as if the birds thus slaughtered were harmful, the killing 

 of them beneficial. On the contrary the majority of the 

 species now massacred are distinctly beneficial to the 

 countries they inhabit, and surely no one could wish that 

 this country should be deprived of its birds and reduced 

 to the generally unaviferous aspect of France and 

 Italy. 



It is said that legislation in the direction of the further 

 protection of birds would be an interference with the 

 legitimate industry of the "plume " trade. This is by no 

 means the case. There are many birds which are used as 

 articles of food, the plumage of which could be utilised 

 for decorative purposes ; and that this ,is well known by 

 the trade is evidenced by the large number of dyed 

 fowls' wings which figure largely in the composition 

 of hat and bonnet ornament. Just as before, 

 when the outcry against the slaughter of gulls and 

 sea-birds rendered the wearing of their feathers un- 

 fashionable, the milliners adapted their wares to the 

 wants of their customers, so would they once more find 

 substitutes for the larks, robins, and other small birds 

 whi:h they now use by the thousand. 



Our American brethren have put forward some practical 

 suggestions with regard to a stoppage of the traffic. Mr. 

 Allen shows that in the natural order of things birds have 

 already sufficient enemies to contend against without 

 having the hand of man turned against them too. \'ast 

 numbers perish in the eggs, which are the food of many 

 predatory animals, and numbers perish while yet too 

 young to defend themselves against their enemies. To 

 stress of weather also and the trials of migration large 

 quantities of birds succumb, and a severe winter like the 

 last one causes the death of birds of all classes alike. On 

 the top of all these ills which ornithological flesh is heir 

 to, comes a bloodthirsty demand from the women of 

 civiUsed nations for their small bodies to adorn hats or 

 ball-dresses — in order that our belles may not leave the 

 monopoly of feather ornamentation to savages. Statistics 

 have not been published giving an exact account of the 

 number of birds annually sold in London by auction for 

 the plume trade, but it is well known that the numbers 

 are enormous. Thirty thousand ruby-and-topaz humming- 



B B 



