66 
SELBORNIANA. 
Annual Soiree. — The Annual Soiree of the Society will be 
held on Friday, May i, in the Theatre and Halls of the Civil 
Service Commission (Old London University), Burlington Gar- 
dens, New Bond Street, by kind permission of His Majesty’s 
First Commissioner of Works. The Right. Hon. Lord Avebury 
will preside. A small charge will again be made for tickets, of 
which two will be forwarded to each member. Additional tickets 
must be obtained from the Head Office of the Society, 20, Han- 
over Square, London, W. (See page 79 of this number.) 
Legislation on the Importation of Birds. — The Selborne 
Society is the outcome of a movement made more than twenty 
years ago to influence public opinion against the wearing of the 
plumage of birds that are not domesticated or killed for food. 
Of recent years it has become more and more evident to the 
Council that some legislation is necessary if the ranks of many 
beautiful birds are not to be very greatly lessened and the 
extinction of a number of species ultimately, and in sr me cases 
soon, brought about. The general opinion has been tnat up to 
the present moment the time was not auspicious. Now, how- 
ever, the opinion of a number of Societies interested has been 
definitely asked by our President, Lord Avebury, with regard to 
a proposed bill which has the advantage of not being brought 
forward by an official member of any of the Societies interested. 
On Friday, March 13, Lord Avebury presided over a meeting 
of representatives from the Royal, the Linnaean, the Zoological, 
and the Selborne Societies, and the Royal Society for the Protec- 
tion of Birds, whom he had invited to meet him at 6, St. James’s 
Square. With one exception possibly, all those present were in 
favour of legislation of some kind, if it could be made effectual. 
Mr. James Buckland’s proposed Bill was discussed, and it was 
agreed unanimously (on the advice of some ornithological experts, 
amongst whom were Mr. Holte Macpherson and Mr. Pycraft, 
who are members of a special committee appointed by the Sel- 
borne Society to consider the matter) that the schedule of the 
Bill should contain a list of such birds as might be imported 
rather than the names of a host of others which might not. 
The general points set forward by Mr. Buckland were generally 
approved, and Mr. Montagu Sharpe, who has had great experi- 
ence in the matter of Bills, kindly undertook to revise the draft 
under discussion, following the sense of the meeting, so that it 
should be circulated again to the Societies who might give their 
representatives authority to express a definite opinion. At 
present the idea is to prevent importation while allowing such 
feathers as are actually worn on the person to pass the Customs 
officers’ hands. Though in the opinion of some, which is shared 
by the Council of the Selborne .Society, the actual retail sale of 
