3 
to have killed these humming birds ” ! He pointed out to her that 
the comparatively few humming birds there, were as nothing com¬ 
pared to the millions that had been sacrificed for the decoration of 
ladies’ hats. The specimens shewn in museums undoubtedly convey 
instruction and pleasure for hundreds of years to numberless students 
of nature, and without these collections there would be no means of 
gaining much necessary knowledge. It was very desirable that the 
County Councils should ascertain accurately what is wanted in the 
way of protection before putting the new Act into operation. There 
were many wild, marshv, uncultivated lands hardly owned by any 
body, where birds could be allowed to pass their lives in security 
and propagate their kind ; such areas could be kept under super¬ 
vision without much trouble. He expressed himself most heartily 
in accord with the objects of the Society ; the heartless and stupid 
fashion of adorning ladies hats and costumes with beautiful foreign 
birds, cruelly killed for the purpose could not be too forcibly 
deprecated. 
Miss Powys supported the resolution and read a letter from her 
brother Lord Lilford, who much regretted his inability to attend the 
annual meeting adding that he was “ with the Society heart and 
soul in its endeavour to put a stop to the slaughter of birds for their 
feathers.” Lord Lilford had also written to her making some 
suggestions regarding the invention of imitations of the osprey 
plumes to be made of some light material. She was glad to note 
from the Report that the number of bird-wearing women was 
diminishing. In a recent Ladies’ Journal it was said u Ospreys 
are more in demand than ever ; fashion divides its favors between 
them and the Birds of Paradise ; wings will be largely worn but 
all lovers of birds and those who de tree ate the slaughter of them will 
probably prefer to substitute the decoration of brightly coloured 
sequins.” In this the speaker thought she recognized the working 
of this Society. There was no pursuit more refining and which 
afforded more pleasure than the study of bird life. Men who had 
been obliged to live out of doors, had found the birds become 
exceedingly familiar, and opportunities of noting their delightful 
traits and interesting modes of life should not be lost. She heartily 
commended the love of birds and hoped that no woman present 
could ever incur the reproach cast by Browning on a lady who came 
to visit him in a hat decorated with tropical birds :— 
“ You clothed with murder of His best 
Of harmless beings ! ”. 
The resolution was carried unanimously. 
The Chairman moved “ That the ladies and gentlemen named 
on the first page of the Report be elected as the Committee for the 
ensuing year.” He said that in 1889 he had been successful in 
passing through Parliament a Bill for the protection of the Pallas 
sand grouse. He had hoped that the Act would become operative at 
once, but at the last moment the Attorney General thought that 
