The Audubon Societies 



i47 



left in the nests to die of starvation. 

 Egrets once bred as far north as New 

 Jersey and perhaps Long Island, but today 

 they do not occur during the nesting season 

 north of North Carolina. The agents of 

 the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies have been able to locate in 

 recent years about thirty colonies of these 

 birds in our southern swamps. In the 

 summer of 1912 these few remaining rook- 

 eries contained in the aggregate a popula- 

 tion of about 5,000 egrets. Thirty years ago 

 there were millions of these birds in the 

 United States. Because of the disappear- 

 ance of egrets over large sections of the 

 country in which they formerly occurred, 

 it is now necessary for the trade to secure 

 these feathers from abroad, and the same 

 heartless war of extermination is today 

 being carried on in South America and 

 southern Asia. As long as we permit the 

 importation of aigrettes, we have but 

 little assurance for saving the remnant of 

 the egrets still found in this country, as 

 it is impossible to distinguish in the manu- 

 factured product the feathers of these 

 birds taken in different countries. 



5. Revenue. — The actual revenue de- 

 rived from the importation of plumage 

 (including aigrettes for millinery purposes) 

 is unknown, for the reason that no sepa- 

 rate record is kept of the importation of 

 plumage for millinery purposes and feath- 

 ers and downs used tor pillows, quilts 

 and other purposes. In the case of ai- 

 grettes, probably 90 per cent of the goods 

 are imported in the crude state at the low 

 rate of duty based on appraisal at port 

 of shipment. If figures were available, it 

 is doubtful whether the appraised value 

 of most aigrettes would exceed $15 or $20 

 per ounce, allowing a revenue of $3 or $4 

 per ounce. Assuming that the importa- 

 tions for any one year amounted to half 

 a ton, or 1,000 pounds, the duty at $3 an 

 ounce would be $48,000, and at $4 per 

 ounce, $64,000. If this revenue is regarded 

 as indispensable or so important as to 

 necessitate the continuance of a traffic at 

 once barbarous, useless, and destructive 

 to the interests of our farmers, an equal 

 source of revenue may be found in para- 



graph 289 in Schedule G by imposing the 

 same duty on game birds as on poultry. 



To accomplish this, amend paragraph 

 289 to read: "Poultry, live, 3 cents per 

 pound; poultry and game birds, dead, 5 

 cents per pound." 



If this amendment be adopted, para- 

 graph 510 of the free list should be 

 amended to read: "Birds and land and 

 water fowls, alive, for exhibition or prop- 

 agation." 



The present provision which imposes 

 a duty of 5 cents a pound on poultry and 

 allows game birds to be imported free is 

 class legislation. It is the height of 

 injustice in these days of high prices to 

 require the poor man to pay a duty of 5 

 cents a pound on his poultry, while the 

 wealth}' patron of the high-class restau- 

 rant and hotel can obtain his game birds 

 free of duty. Under the present tariff 

 exemptions, the importation of game birds 

 from Europe has increased enormously. 

 As many as 25,000 birds are known to 

 have been imported on a single vessel at 

 New York. The records of the Conserva- 

 tion Commission of New York show that 

 since the new law went into effect, in 

 191 1, prohibiting the sale of native game 

 and requiring foreign game to be tagged, 

 game birds to the number of 492,400 have 

 been tagged. Most of these birds are 

 pheasants, grouse and ptarmigan weigh- 

 ing from a pound to a pound and half or 

 two pounds. If the average is taken at 

 a pound and a half, the importations of 

 New York alone would net about $37,000. 

 As these figures represent the importa- 

 tions of New York alone for a period of 

 two years, it would be safe to say that the 

 importations of all ports in the United 

 States may be safely placed at not less 

 than $50,000. — T. G. P. 



Egret Protection 



As we go to press, the Association, in 

 cooperation with the Pennsylvania State 

 Audubon Society, is engaged in an exten- 

 sive campaign to arouse public interest 

 in Pennsylvania with a view of securing 

 support of Senate Bill No. 46, introduced 



