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The sole argument left is that the beautiful birds of the tropics 
should be destroyed for the benefit of the dealers in plumage m 
London and Paris. Who, except those who make money in this 
criminal trade would be worseoff, if no woman ever wore the fragments 
of a bird in her hat again ? 
r 
A good many years ago a French plume-hunter took up his abode 
on the slopes of Mount Ophir and proceeded to exterminate all the 
most beautiful birds he could find. The Government put a stop to 
this by passing the Bird Protection Ordinance, and he migrated to 
Negri Sembilan where the same ordinance was passed, whereupon 
after selling, it is said, the goodwill of the business to some one else 
who did not know it was illegal, he left the country When I first 
visited Mount Ophir I was struck by the paucity of birds in the 
district, due to this plume-hunter, and I met one of his native 
assistants who applied to me for a job in collecting birds; on a 
later visit to this district I was pleased to see a great increase m the 
number of birds of all kinds, and especially the beautiful tairy blue 
bird, Irene Pulchella . Now, this kind of ordinance which saved the 
birds from being utterly exterminated has not in any way interfered 
with the prosperity of the rices, field and it is a similar Ordinance 
passed in India by Lord Curzon that is so strongly objected so as 
being most injurious to the Agriculturist. 
The story of the Hawaiian islands in which agriculture is very 
seriously checked by the absence of insectivorous birds, exterminated 
long ago for their feathers, is a warning to those who defend the 
plume-hunter on the score of improvement of agriculture. In the 
t i atest report of the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and 
Forestry of Hawaii, we read the struggles of the agricultural depart- 
ment against the insect pests, and the work and money that is being 
spent to introduce the enemies of these pests, both insect parasites 
and insectivorous birds, to do the work that an undisturbed bird- 
fauna would have done at no expense to the country. 
In selecting birds for the Hawaiian islands Mr. Henshaw is suffi- 
ciently cautions not to recommend for introduction those that aie 
mainly seed or fruit eaters, and it is true that there are birds which 
have been found in a certain number of places to have prov- 
ed very injurious in this way, especially, in cold climates 
where cereals are cultivated over large areas, but heie in 
the tropics whence most of the bright plumaged birds 
are derived for the trade, the little trouble even in the ricefields 
caused by the seed-eaters, is compensated for by the valuable work 
done in the destruction of insect pests. The enemies to our fruit 
trees are ail mammals, chiefly bats, musangs, squirrels and rats, it is 
very probable that in cases where the seed eating sparrows and 
finches are in excess, and thus destructive, this is due to destruction o 
the hawks which keep them in check. In the first series of the 
“Bulletin!” under Notes on Sugar Cultivation, I pointed out that in the 
sugar fields small birds were rare as in these open fields, they had no 
