Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 363 



The Plumage Bill. — On March the 9th last the second 

 reading of the Plumage Bill was passed by the House of 

 Commons by a majority of 297 to 15. 



This bill, the object of which is to prohibit the importa- 

 tion, for trade purposes, of the plumage of all foreign birds 

 (except Ostriches and Eider Ducks), was first drafted by the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds with the support 

 of representatives of the Natural History Museum and of 

 the Royal and other Societies in 1908. It was introduced 

 into the House of Lords by Lord Avebury and passed that 

 House on July the 21st, 1908, with strengthening amend- 

 ments. It was introduced into the House of Commons by 

 Lord Robert Cecil, but the end of the session prevented a 

 second reading being taken. 



What is essentially the same bill was introduced at the 

 end of last session (A.ug. 4, 1913) by Mr. Hobhouse on the 

 part of the Government and was backed by Mr. E. S. 

 Montagu and Mr. Sydney Buxton, and it is this bill which 

 was read a second time on March the 9th last. 



The following are the principal clauses of the bill as it 

 now stands : — 



1. — (1) Subject to the exceptions m this Act contained, a person 

 shall not import into the United Kingdom the plumage of any wild bird, 

 and accordingly section fortj-two of the Customs Consolidation Act, 

 1876, shall be read as if there were included in the table of prohibitions 

 and restrictions therein — 



" The plumage of wild birds as defined by the Importation of 

 Plumage (Prohibition) Act, 1914, subject to the exceptions contained 

 in that Act." 



(2) A person shall not have in his possession or be concerned in 

 selling the plumage of any wild bird which has been imported in con- 

 travention of this Act, or which, having been allowed to be imported on 

 the ground that it is being put to a certain use or intended to be put to 

 a certain use, is being put to some other use ; and if any person has in 

 his possession or is concerned in selling any such plumage, he shall be 

 liable on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not 

 exceeding five pounds in respect of the first offence and twenty-five 

 pounds in respect of the second or any subsequent offence, and the court 

 before whom he is convicted may order the forfeiture or destruction of 

 any plumage in respect of which the offence has been committed. 



