854 James Buckland. 



than labouring with the living bird for the production of food. 

 To stop this insane proceeding, the Government of India, in 1902, 

 passed a law prohibiting the export of all plumage, except that 

 of the ostrich and of domestic poultry. Since that act was passed, 

 the skins and feathers of India's most beautiful and most useful 

 birds have continued to pour into Europe with thronging 

 frequence. It will interest yon to know how they are conveyed 

 clandestinely out of India. Fictitious names are used, fictitious 

 addresses given, and the feathers exported in cases falsely declared 

 as containing cow-hair, horse-hair, or some flimsy silk material. 

 Artful to a degree, as befits the smuggler, the feather dealer often 

 selects devious routes by which to send the contraband goods to 

 Europe. Penang is a route much favoured by those engaged in 

 this unlawful business, though all ports of the Straits Settlements 

 are freely used for the some purpose. The reason of this 

 manoeuvre is obvious. The Customs are less watchful over the 

 exports to a port where there is no market for plumes. On account 

 of this, the chief aim of the smuggler, which is to get the feathers 

 safely out of India, is attained without much difficulty. Once free 

 of India's ports, the feathers may be re-shipped quite openly 

 to Europe. 



I could give you many other instances of the smuggling of 

 feathers out of other countries which have protected their birds, 

 but they do no differ essentially in character from the case I have 

 cited. The point I wish to emphasize is this: — A vast number 

 of feathers which are used in the millinery trade in Europe are 

 able to be brought into her marts only by means of false declara- 

 tions, which are a direct evasion of the law, and which declarations 

 are made deliberately for the purpose of deceiving ship captains 

 and the Customs authorities of the country from which the feathers 

 have been purloined. 



Do we need stronger proof than this of the pressing necessity 

 of an International Convention to consider the whole subject of 

 bird destruction? 



There are of course many other species besides those I have 

 mentioned which are being hurried out of existence by reason of 

 this traffic in plumes — some, indeed, in so perilous a state that 

 every individual killed hastens the day when the species will 

 become extinct. But it is not my intention to speak of these. 

 To my mind, the question as to what species are disappearing 

 most generally, or most rapidly, is but a side issue. The broad 

 fact remains that the whole volume of the bird life of the world 

 is being reduced at an alarming rate. 



I may be, of course, entirely wrong, but I believe oology to 

 be barren of any scientific results. There is no interpretation of 

 phenomena, no establishment of laws. It does not, in a word, 

 enlighten the world in any way. At the same time, I have nothing 



