On Tuesday in the House of Lords Lord Avebury's "Importation
of Plumage Prohibition Bill" was read a second time, and referred to a Select Committee. The Bill prohibits the introduction into the United Kingdom, for sale or exchange, of the plumage, body, or skin of any wild bird other than birds used for food, eider ducks, and ostriches. The measure has the general support of naturalists. Lord Avebury said that in the catalogues of the plume auctions in London during the last six months of 1907 there were nearly twenty thousand birds of paradise and a hundred and fifteen thousand white herons. At the June sale one firm of auctioneers alone catalogued over twenty thousand kingfishers. These are appalling figures, and we are not surprised to hear that some species of birds still familiar are threatened with extinction. Whether the Bill as drafted by Lord Avebury would achieve what is intended is another matter. Much plumage is imported into Britain, and is made up, but not used, here. We are inclined to think that to achieve the ends of the Bill without penalising ourselves international action will be necessary. We sincerely hope that the Select Committee will speedily recommend a practical measure. The destruction of most birds is utterly unnecessary. We believe that a hat- maker who used only feathers from birds that are killed for food, treating and dyeing them in ways that we are sure are open to invention, and who advertised the fact that this was done as a claim upon customers, would command a large trade.
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