44 
NATURE NOTES. 
Well may the Western Morning News in commenting on this letter 
write 
“ The strange thing about this interesting little adventure is that the gentleman 
‘ did not want to injure his beautiful plumage,’ and so he shot him ! ” 
Protection of Birds in Austria. — The Vienna Society for 
the Protection of Birds, whose seat is at Gratz, has lately drawn 
upon itself the wrath of the Vienna tradesmen dealing in orna- 
mental feathers. The honorary president, Lili Lehmann, well 
known in Germany and Austria for her fine singing at chamber 
concerts, gave at the late meeting of the Society’s congress at 
Gratz an enthusiastic address on behalf of the feathered creation, 
which she recommended to the protection of every right-minded 
person. She spoke with passionate fervour against the fashion 
of decorating ladies’ hats with stuffed birds, and appealed to 
the women of Austria to emancipate themselves from this 
odious custom. This speech was printed, and thousands of 
copies distributed. The guild of feather dealers discovered in 
the agitation a disturbance of trade, as their profits have con- 
siderably fallen off since the appeal was published. They took 
counsel with a distinguished Vienna lawyer, as well as with a 
solicitor attached to the Commercial Museum, as to whether 
an action were possible against Frau Lehmann, in particular, or 
the Society for the Protection of Birds, in general. The answer 
in both cases was unfavourable. They were informed that they 
could no more prosecute for this than publicans could make out 
a case against a temperance association, or butchers against 
vegetarian bodies. After this unsuccessful attempt to damp 
their ardour, the Gratz Society has set to work with renewed 
vigour . — Daily Telegraph. 
Protection of Birds in the United States. — The follow- 
ing is a copy of a bill passed by the United States Senate, 
January 6: “That the importation into the United States of 
birds, feathers, or parts of birds for ornamental purposes be, and 
the same is hereby prohibited ; provided, however, that nothing 
herein contained shall be construed as prohibiting the importa- 
tion of birds for museums, zoological gardens, or scientific 
collections, or the importation of living birds, or of feathers taken 
from living birds without injury to the bird. The Secretary of 
the Treasury is hereby authorised to make legulations for 
carrying into effect the provisions of this section. That the 
transportation of birds, feathers, or parts of birds, to be used or 
sold, from any State or Territory of the United States to or 
through any other State or Territory of the United States is 
hereby prohibited. Whoever shall violate the provisions of this 
section shall, upon conviction in the district where the offence 
shall have been committed, be punished for each such offence by 
a fine of 50 dols. That the sale, keeping, or offering for sale, 
within any Territory of the United States, or within the district 
