Bar as. 
Since Mrs. John Playfords’ retirement 
{August oe 1904) the .- local 
Branch of the above Society has 
been Bae ty in abeyance’ A new 
"Secretary has, however, now “been 
~ appointed in the person of Miss S. Ware 
and it has again resumed activities to- 
wards the discouragement of the wanton 
. -distruction of b rds, and willinterest itself 
generally in their protection Her Grace 
ee the Dachess of Portland (President of the | 
British Branch of the Society for the 
- Protection of Birds), in a circular issued 
recently, calls special attention to the 
'. very startling fact that numerous beauti- 
ful birds are being 
supply the demand for feather millinery. 
exterminated to 
- Initshe says:—‘I feel sure that the 
demand has arisen from total ignorance 
; cs of the sacrifice it entails, and that no one | 
with true appreciation of beauty will 
tolerate this wholesale destraction of 
birds, or countenance the continued use 
of rare feathers for personal adornment. 
Ifthe ruthless cruelty entailed in pr.- 
; _ curing feathers at the nesting time does 
not suffice to plead for a complete 
reversal of opinion on the subject, surely 
the thought of a world bereft of its birds — 
of plumage may well stimulata us all to 
co-operative actively with the Society in 
discouraging the us? of feithers for pur- 
- poses of ornament, i 
A Royal 
qter he Protection of Birds. 
British President, B Her Grace the Duchess of Portland 
— AUSTRALIAN 
PRESIDEN TL ADY BONYTHON. 
VICE-PRESIDENT s—Ricur Honourasre SIR S. J. WAY, | 
AND Mrs. JOHN PLAYFORD. 
HON, SECRETARY-—MISS S WARE. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
s ociely © 
BRANCH.— 
With all the foregoing remarks every 
cight-thinking person will heartily, coin- 
cide, and it is our intention to devote a 
, sub- 
The Society is nov calling for 
subscriptions from the members. Any 
Person may become an Associate on- 
paying the sum of Sixpence (Children 
series of arvicles dealing with the 
ject. 
under 14, Threepence), as a registration 
fee, and agreving to the objects of the 
Society. Associates may become Mem- 
bers cu agreeing to pay not less than One 
Shilling annually. Tho money (or the 
equivalsnt in stamps) should be sent to . 
Miss S. Ware, 112 South Terrace E., 
Adelaide. 
The Bird of Paradise. 
The month of May, 1895, was th: 
culminating point of a deplorable fashion 
in London. 
to be-seen without the adornment of a 
graceful spray of soft, fine plumes, with 
drooping or curly tips. The be wwufal 
‘Bird of Paradise’ feathers could be pur- 
chased i in quantities at every amilliner’s 
shop, and the assurance that they were 
real, which there is little reason to 
doubt, could usually be elicited. Mixed 
in the same spray, aul formin; a co ibrasi 
to these soft plumes, might be seen t1) 
. of womanhood, have so long been in 
_ sprays. 
Z _which is prevalent throughout the trade 
"1894, Mons. Jules Forest bitterly deplore 
Few bonnets and hats were — 
, is Sagal 4, 1909 s 
delicate ones tips, which, to the sham 
fashion, and, in spite of the indisputabl 
cruelty involved in obtaining them, ar 
still largely used. It can be stated on 
reliable authority that, during th 
season, one warehouse alone of the mauy 
that are engeged in the traflic so detri 
mental to bird life, disposed of no less 
than 60,000 dozens of mixed 
What can be more significant of — 
the destruction which this” 
fashion involves, than the impression 
these 
wholesale 
that it must soon dissapear, as the suppl 
of birds‘is almost exhausted, 
A few words Rercnpre of the original 
owners of these plumes may not be out . 
of place, as little indeed can be known 0 
them by those who so thoughtlessly en 
courage their destruction for the sake o 
mere personal a“ornment, The Bird of 
Paradise most used in millinery is that 
obtained in the Papuan Islands and New 
Guinea, Mr. Wallace, in describing ‘the 
Paradisea apoda, says: From each side of 
the body, beneath the wings, 
dense tuft of long and delicate plume’ 
sometimes two feet in length, of the most ‘ 
intense golden-orange colour and very 
glossy, but changing towards the tips into” 
apale brown This tuft of feathers cap 
be elevated and spread out at pleasure 80 
as almost to conceal the body of the 
bird” The breast and othe 
feathers are utilised for making trim 
mings, &c., but it is these side tufts, th 
peculiar and beautiful characteristic © 
the Bird of Paradise, which furnish th 
plumes so conspicuous in hat adornment 
In his ‘Oiseaux dans la Mode,’ of Octobe 
springs 
wing, 
the destruction which has been going 2 
duting the last decade. He emphasise 
the fact that it is no longer possible 
pocure such rerfect s;ecimens of th 
Bird of Paradise as was common ten yea! 
ago, since the unfortunate birds are § 
assiduously hunted that none of them at@ 
allowed to live long enough to rea 
. maturity, the full plumage of the mae 
bird requiring several years for 1! 
development! He further states that «h 
birds which now flood the Paris mark 
are for the most part young ones, sti 
clothed in their first plumage, whic 
