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Correspondence.



days they continued their search. Meantime, in one nesting basket (the pro¬

perty of the Barbary’s) I found no less than twelve eggs, some fresh laid. The

thought crossed my mind, could the Turtles by some means have conveyed their

eggs for greater safety into the Barbary s’ basket ? Then I dismissed the idea as

absurd, for how could a bird carry an egg, and if it could, how could the egg be

conveyed intact up to a high shelf under a roof? The more I thought about it,

the greater mystery it appeared to me.


I then set to work to remove the old nest, and I placed a suitable basket-

lid with hay in it, on the ground against a bit of south wall in the outer aviary,

and threw down several handfuls of long grass and moss near it, the Turtles

looking on. That same day an egg appeared in the basket-lid, and the hen sat

on it. Now there are two, the grass and moss has all been worked in with the

hay for a new nest, and the sitting is being proceeded with as before. The

Turtles seem to recognise my desire to help them, for they are not so shy with

me as they were. They are extremely intelligent, and so are the Senegal

Turtles, far more so than the Barbary and Java Doves.


Katharine Currey.


THE STEAM ROLLER OF THE “FEATHER TRADE” IN THE

U.S. SENATE—A REMARKABLE SPECTACLE.


SIR, — The American people are now being treated to the amazing spectacle

of the steam roller of the wild-bird feather trade being run through the United

States Senate in defiance of the appeals and protests of the bird lovers of the

United States. It is a case of about 30 importing millinery houses, a few

hundred milliners, and a strong lobby of New York lawyers against about 50

million American people. At present the steam roller is going overall opposition,

and the indications are that the program- of the wild-bird milliners is to be rail¬

roaded through the Senate as a strict “party measure.”


The friends and protectors of birds are striving to end, once for all, the

odious and cruel slaughter of the beautiful and interesting wild birds of the world

for the cash benefit of the millinery trade in America. The best women of

America do not want any more dead-bird hat decorations, and have appealed to

Congress to stop all such importations. The practice of bird slaughter for the

millinery trade is essentially barbarous and cruel, and it has now become odious

and detestable.


The Ways and Means Committee of the House inserted in the tariff bill a

clause designed to stop this odious traffic in wild birds’ plumage. Ostrich

feathers do not come from wild birds. The movement has the support of many

bird-protecting societies of the United States, the State and National societies of

the United States, the State and National Federation of Women’s Clubs, various

rstate game commissioners, and humanitarians generally. It is supported by 130

newspapers and magazines, and opposed by only one newspaper.



