70 



BIBB NOTES AND NEWS. 



with curling plumes, and the much larger American 

 egret, with straight ones. There are several other 

 closely similar species in South America and in 

 other parts of the world. At the present rate of 

 destruction, a decade or two more will make each 

 of these American and foreign herons as extinct as 

 the buffalo and the great auk." 



" The aigrette question is one of the most im- 

 portant now before all the Audubon Societies. The 

 use of these plumes seems to be increasing rather 

 than otherwise, notwithstanding the milliners' agree- 

 ment that their sale should cease January 1st, 1904. 

 The Millinery Merchants' Association is disbanded, 

 largely owing to the question of the sale of aigrettes, 

 and therefore the Audubon Societies are relieved 

 from any obligation regarding laws entered into 

 under the terms of the agreement. In view of this 

 fact, the New York Society has introduced in the 

 Legislature the following amendment to Section 33 

 of the present law : — 



" ' Feathers or plumes commonly known as 

 aigrettes, or the feathers or plumage of any 

 species of the heron family, whether obtained 

 within or without the State, shall not be 

 bought, sold, offered, or exposed for sale at 

 any time.' " 



Bird-Lore, March-April, 1905. 



THE PLUME TRADE. 



The trade report on the sales held in London on 

 April nth, 1905, records a good attendance of 

 buyers and good competition. Birds-of-paradise 

 sold well at steady prices ; 2258 of light and dark 

 plumed were offered, and 3886 " various," the 

 prices varying from 22s. for light plumes to 5d. for 

 kings. Of Impeyan pheasants 100 skins were 

 sold; and of the 295 packages of "osprey" 

 feathers, 145 were stated to be East Indian, 45 

 Venezuelan, 52 South American, 41 Senegal, 7 

 Chinese, and 5 Turkish. The miscellaneous bird- 

 skins comprised crested pigeons, cocks-of-the-rock, 

 trogons, tanagers, cardinals, kingfishers, humming- 

 birds (43,224), canaries, etc. . There were also 

 seven lyre-bird tails from Australia, and tern-tails 

 and other feathers from Japan ; also quantities 

 of crane, heron, bustard and eagle quills. 



For the sale on June 14th the catalogues included 

 210 packages of "osprey" plumes, besides 200 

 "osprey" skins; 2000 birds-of-paradise, together 

 with 20 packages ; 16 cases of "vulture" feathers 

 (vulture is the trade name for the rhea), and 80 

 cases of miscellaneous birdskins of the usual kind. 



BIRDS IN" JAMAICA. 



{Contributed by Mr". Francis King, a Member of the ' 

 Council, R.S.P.B.). 



To the title of the Island of Springs and Land of 

 the Hibiscus, Jamaica deserves to add the distinc- 

 tion of the Paradise of Birds. Not that the aves 

 of the colony are specially numerous — though they 

 are more frequent than many visitors may be led 

 to expect— but on account of the singular immunity 

 that they enjoy. 



The Wild Birds Act is here in full force, and 

 during the nesting and breeding season is observed 

 with a generally dutiful law-abidingness both by 

 young and old, even in a land where certain com- 

 mandments of a Divine origin are notoriously 

 infringed. 



The John Crow vulture is religiously protected 

 both by law and custom as the natural sanitary 

 officer of the region ; so also is the " blackbird " 

 (Crotophagus ani), the friendly deliverer of cattle 

 from the persecuting tick, and the slaughter of either 

 bird is visited with the heavy penalty of £5 per 

 head. As a consequence these, and, more or less, 

 all the feathered denizens of the garden and forest, 

 betray little or no fear of man's approach, nor is 

 their tameness, that Mr. Selkirk found so "shocking," 

 to me anything but delightful. The nightingale or 

 mocking-bird will alight in mango or logwood, and 

 pipe to you with rare sweetness as you watch and 

 listen in the shade below. 



Numbers of the trochili flit hither and thither 

 within arm's reach, including the beautiful long- 

 tailed species ( T. polytmus), which utters its cheerful 

 little note as it plunges the long red bill into some 

 peculiarly attractive cluster of blossom. In this 

 way, with the help of Gosse's book and coloured 

 plates — by no means an exhaustive catalogue, by 

 the bye— one may identify several species, of which 

 the sober liveried grass twit, the handsome redstart 

 flycatcher of the orange-barred blackwing (besides 

 other of the muscicapidce), the green and yellow 

 banana bird, and the kingbird, or "loggerhead," 

 are the most common. 



In an evil hour, some twenty years ago, the 

 hateful mongoose was introduced into the country 

 with the object of ridding the sugar cane estates 

 of their pest of rats ; but, while the rat is almost 

 as plentiful as ever, the losses inflicted, not only on 

 the domestic poultry but also the " ground game " 

 of the island, have proved incalculable. The 

 partridge, quail, stilt, and some species of dove are 

 almost extinct. It is said that the mongoose is on 

 the decline — perhaps, by those whose wish is father 

 to the thought ; but it is still sufficiently numerous 

 to attract the notice of the casual tourist on his 

 walks and drives, even within no great distance of 

 the capital itself. 



Jamaica, March 1st, 1905. 



The Kirkcudbright County Council has decided 

 to apply to have the lapwing's eggs protected 

 during the whole breeding season. 



BIRDS IN NEW ZEALAND. 



New Zealand is a land where small birds have 

 suffered in character through some lack of dis- 

 cretion in the early introduction of British species. 



