19 JANUARY 1934, Page 17

Osprey Plumes It may serve a purpose, other than the

purpose of adver- tisement, to quote a passage from a recent catalogue pub- lished in London. The headline is " Hats for those important occasions," and the subscript paragraph is this : " Behold the gorgeous excellence of Paradise and Osprey Plume ! sweeping, swirling and curling round and about these piquant models sponsored by a leading Parisian House."

Of all cruelties inflicted on birds the shooting of osprey, necessarily in the breeding season, was the worst, if we except the wholesale slaughter of penguin. There is no particular charm in the osprey plume that cannot be synthetically supplied. The trade had died down and these beautiful herons were multiplying again. It would be a sadly retrograde step if it were to be revived by a stimulation of the traffic by distributors in London and Paris, and therefore all over the world.