AMERICAN EGRETS AS VICTIMS TO FASHION. 249 



secondary cause ; its exigencies are so uncertain in their period- 

 icity and duration, and cause such fluctuations in price, that 

 the plumage of one species is at one time enormously costly, and 

 at another the prices are so low that the search for feathers be- 

 comes unremunerative and ceases altogether. It is then that the 

 species finds time to recuperate. This is the case at the present 

 moment in regard to Humming-Birds, at one time in such great 

 demand. 



Under these circumstances, it would seem that the Bill, 

 accepted by the English House of Lords and referred back to 

 the House of Commons, the object of which is to restrict decora- 

 tive birds to those used for purposes of food, and which would 

 prohibit in England the importation and sale of the plumage 

 of all those species that serve for decoration alone, would over- 

 step the purpose in view, and would be seriously detrimental to 

 the trade and to feather-dressers. This is a very complex 

 question, towards the solution of which still further information 

 seems essential. 



As to Egrets, the real remedy would probably lie in domesti- 

 cation, by means of which these two species would lose their 

 migratory instinct, just as tame Ducks and Geese have lost it. 

 The difficulties would not be insurmountable, but probably much 

 less than those which the English colonists at the Cape have 

 had to overcome in domesticating the Southern Ostrich. Various 

 attempts have already been made, but they have not been perse- 

 vered in for a sufficiently long period. 



On this subject the Editor reprints a Leaflet issued by " The 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds," which bears a diffe- 

 rent construction : — 



Dealers in plumes are circulating statements to the effect that 

 the Egret or " Osprey " plumes are moulted feathers, and that the 

 birds are not killed in order to procure them. In particular a letter 

 is being largely disseminated both in England and Australia, headed 

 "Importation of Plumage Prohibition Bill. — How the Osprey Feathers 

 are Procured." It is in imitation type- writing, signed " Leon La- 

 glaize," and dated "Buenos Ayres, July 29th, 1908," but there is no 

 indication of the persons to whom it is addressed or by whom it is 



