20 JANUARY 1933, Page 16

THE SLAVE TRADE IN BIRDS

[To the Editor of TUE SPECTATOR.] SUL—There is one point not mentioned by Lord Howard of Penrith in his article last week, and indeed it is one that seldom or never receives the consideration it deserves : I refer to the long suffering, inflicted upon a bird of wild stock by what I may perhaps term the " muscular ache " that must accompany the deprivation of flight in an organism possessing the immense pectoral muscles of a bird. Nothing but the constant and unrestrained use of its wings in the exercise of their natural function can ease that need, and we constantly see the caged bird restlessly moving from side to side of its cage in a ceaseless effort to mitigate that dull