Page 150 - Our Vanishing Wild Life
P. 150

 128
OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
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THE FIGHT IN ENGLAND AGAINST THE USE OF WILD BIRD'S PLUMAGE IN THE MILLINERY TRADE
Sandwich-men Employed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, that Patroled London Streets in July, 1911.
highstateofpreservation! Andweareaskedtobelievethatitisi.hese very Venezuelan picked-up feathers that command in London the high price of ^44 per ounce.
Mr. Laglaize is especially exploited by Mr. Downham, as a French traveler of high standing, and well known in the zoological museums of France; but, sad to say, when Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn cabled to the Museum of Natural History in Paris, inquiring about Mr. Laglaize, the cableflashedbacktheonesadword: "Inconnu!"(Unknown!)
I think it entirely possible that enough shed feathers have been picked up in the reeking swamps of Venezuela, on the upper tributaries of the Orinoco,toafiEordanexcuseforthebeautifulstoryofMr.Laglaize. Any shrewd individual with money, and the influence that money secures, couM put up just such a "plant" as I firmly believe has been put up by some one in Venezuela. I will guarantee that I could accomplish such a job in Venezuela or Brazil, in four months' time, at an expense not exceeding one thousand dollars.
That the great supply of immaculately perfect egret plumes that annually come out of Venezuela could by any possibility be picked up in the swamps where they were shed and dropped by the egrets, is
".jy- WM
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