860 William Dutcher. 



birds are only found in eastern North America. From tliere they 

 migrated to northern South America, where they were killed and 

 shipped to the London markets. How can the Americans protect 

 their Hummingbirds if they may be killed in South America and 

 sold in England for use wherever birds are used for millinery 

 ornaments? 



One need do no more than to examine the schedules of bird 

 skins ofifered for sale at the London auction markets every sixty 

 days to realize how important it is that some drastic steps be taken 

 to stop this enormous drain on wild bird life: Herons, Trogons, 

 Hummingbirds, Toucans, Macaws, Tanagers, Emus, Birds of 

 Paradise, Marabou Storks, Crowned Pigeons, Cockatoos, Parrots, 

 Rifle-birds, Kingfishers, Pheasants, Albatrosses, Hawks, Bitterns, 

 Lyre-Birds, Grebes, Owls, Terns, Gulls, Bustards and Cuckoos 

 are some of the many species dealt insacrificed at the behest of 

 fashion. 



A suggestive item in all of the schedules is ,, Various Birds". 

 As the several species that have been most dealt in the past, the 

 gorgeously plumed birds, become scarcer and consequently more 

 expensive, the milliners have other species sent them to test the 

 market and should any of them prove to be acceptable to fashion, 

 then that species will be raided also — so much for the slaughter 

 of birds for millinery purposes. 



There are other vital reasons wh}^ Europeans should take 

 active steps for an international agreement, and they are that 

 thousands of the insectivorous birds of Europe are shipped to the 

 United States every year as cage birds. Do the Europeans care so 

 little for their song birds that they are Avilling to permit this cruel 

 traffic? The Americans stopped such export several years since 

 to the great advantage of the country. 



There are also thousands of game birds, such as migratory 

 Quail, the Gray Partridge and the Lapwing that are sent to the 

 American markets for use in hotels and fashionable restaurants. 

 Are the Europeans willing to have such birds slaughtered and 

 shipped out of the country to pamper the taste of foreign 

 gourmands? 



Nature with her infinite wisdom created birds for a definite 

 and specific purpose and placed them where they would do the 

 most good in preserving the exact balance she insists upon. 

 When man steps in to disarrange this balance, he is taking a 

 dangerous step. The members of this Congress should protest 

 against any marked disarrangement of nature's accurate plans 

 by the plume and game dealers who- reap a paltr}^ individual 

 benefit by the destruction of the assets of a State that are of 

 the utmost scientific importance and economic value. The paltry 

 sum realized by these individuals for the dead bird cannot be 

 compared for a moment with the enormous value of the live bird 



