Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/266

234 splendid species were the Birds of Paradise—upwards of two thousand specimens.

"From the Western world it was interesting to see two such birds as the Rupicola, or Cock-of-the-Rock, and the once sacred Quetzal; the first the most vividly coloured, the second the loveliest, bird on that continent, perhaps on the globe. Both species are known to be excessively rare, and it cannot be hoped that they will long escape a fate which has overtaken other persecuted species of less value commercially.

"Other kinds—Argus and Impeyan Pheasants, Jays, Trogons, Kingfishers, Orioles, Tanagers, innumerable Humming-birds, and many more—need not be spoken of in detail. I will only mention the Parrots, for there were many—125,300 specimens, mostly from India. Spread out in Trafalgar Square, they would have covered a large portion of that space with a gay grass-green carpet, flecked with vivid purple, rose, and scarlet."

The 'Times,' commenting on this communication in a leading article under date of Dec. 25th last, observed:—

"It will be said perhaps that the slaughter and sale of these birds is all in the way of legitimate trade, a mere commonplace matter of supply and demand; that the law of nature is a law of rapine and ruthless slaughter; that the fowler for gain who pouches a Humming-bird or a Bird of Paradise, with as little misgiving as an angler baskets a Trout, is a mere instrument of this law to which birds themselves are subject both actively and passively; and that at worst he deals swift death to animals which would otherwise fall victims to their fellows, or to some other agency of nature ' red in tooth and claw.' All this is true, and perhaps to some extent it justifies the fowler and the trader. But it does not touch the wearer. She is the root of the evil. The wearing of feathers taken from birds slaughtered for the sake of them is in no sense a necessity. It does not minister in any way to the comfort or welfare of man, woman, or child. It is a mere vanity and fashion—a custom, if women would but think so, infinitely more honoured in the breach than in the observance. A large proportion of the birds whose feathers women wear are slain only for their sake. If the demand were extinguished the slaughter would cease, and the birds would live their own lives subject only to the appointed laws of their own being."

'Star' recently "interviewed" Mr. Jamrach, the well-known dealer in wild animals. We gather from the information extracted that "Lions are at a discount; they breed too many in the 'zoos.' Elephants are steady (on their feet) at £100 apiece—rather a drop that from twenty years ago, when Jumbo fetched £2000, and the average ran £400 to £500! Giraffes are pretty high (every way). The closing of the Upper Nile and the loss of