BY THE WAYSIDE 
35 
Bill in England, the end is at hand of 
the use of the Egret in fashionable mil¬ 
linery. The trade has taken notice of 
the change in a remarkably rapid way. 
Prices for Egrets and Birds-of-para- 
dise, which a few weeks ago were of 
extraordinarily high, have sunk as 
much as 25 per cent.” 
Attention is also drawn by the Ger¬ 
man papers to the fact that ostrich 
feathers are not debarred by either 
the American law or the British Plu- 
j mage Bill, and that consequently they 
will take the place of the prohibited 
plumes. 
France. 
The Societe Protectrice des Animaux 
de Paris, at its meeting on Sept. 18th, 
sent its heartfelt congratulations to 
those who have conducted the ener¬ 
getic and successful campaign in the 
United States, adding: 
‘ ‘ The meeting hears the call made 
upon France by Dr. Hornaday for sim¬ 
ilar action, and relies upon the Societe 
Protectrice des Animaux de Paris to 
begin at once a campaign to secure in 
France the same victory.” 
In a discussion at the Academy of 
Sciences, Paris, the principal argu¬ 
ment put forward for the trade was 
that of the number of women said to 
be employed in France who, it was. 
argued, would be thrown out of work. 
M. Perrier, Director of the Natural 
I History Museum, protested strongly 
against the destruction of birds. As 
for the workpeople, 30,000 women em¬ 
ployed in the artificial flower trade 
had been months out of work owing to 
the aigrette craze. He begged the 
Academy to decline the trade offer of 
£400 for the best method of domesti¬ 
cating egrets in farms. It was a mere 
blind to gain time; everyone knew 
that these birds could not be domesti¬ 
cated. 
In an article in Le ('henil (Nov. 13), 
the organ of the Jardin Zoologique 
d’Acclimatation, on the new American 
law, M. Pichot says: 
“In view of the introduction of the 
British Bill, the feather-trade fire their 
last shot by organizing a Committee, 
calling itself independent, for the 
Economic Protection of Birds. The 
word Exploitation would, perhaps, bet¬ 
ter define the object of this new asso¬ 
ciation, which, patronised by the Lon¬ 
don Chamber of Commerce, begins 
again an enquiry already made a thou¬ 
sand times into the status of the Aau- 
fauna of different countries, and pro¬ 
poses to encourage the domestication 
of wild species. In France the trade, 
feeling the coming storm, seeks to or¬ 
ganise a league for which it solicits the 
patronage of certain scientific notabil¬ 
ities. There is no objection to that 
provided it is not made to cover the 
traffic. But that is the nice point, be¬ 
cause the traders have sought so much 
to mislead public opinion by inaccur¬ 
ate assertions!, that one must mistrust 
so sudden a conversion to the idea of 
protection. ” 
The trade are working hard to form 
a similar Committee for Scientific 
“ Exploitation” in France. M. Ed¬ 
mond Perrier, Director of the Natural 
History Museum and President of the 
Acclimatization Society, M. Debreuil, 
Secretary of the Society, Dr. Geoffrey 
Saint Hilaire, and many other eminent 
(Continued on p. 36) 
