The total number of bird corpses auctioned during these three sales is as follows:
Aigrettes, 21,528 ounces = 129,168 Egrets.
Herons, 2,683 " = 13,598 Herons.
20,698
Birds of Paradise.
41,090
Hummingbirds.
9,464
Eagles, Condors, etc.
9,472
Other Birds.
-------
Total number
of birds 223,490
* * * * *
It is to be remembered that the sales listed above cover the transactions of four firms only, and do not in any manner take into account the direct importations from Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam of manufacturers and other dealers. The defenders of the feather trade are at great pains to assure the world that in the monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly sales, feathers often appear in the market twice in the same year; and this statement is made for them in order to be absolutely fair. Recent examinations of the plume catalogues for an entire year, marked with the price paid for each item, reveals very few which are blank, indicating no sale! The subtractions of the duplicated items would alter the result only very slightly.
The full extent of England’s annual consumption of the plumage of wild birds slaughtered especially for the trade never has been determined. I doubt whether it is possible to ascertain it. The information that we have is so fragmentary that in all probability it reflects only a small portion of the whole truth, but for all that, it is sufficient to prove the case of the Defenders of the Birds vs. the London Chamber of Commerce.
IMPORTS OF FEATHERS AND DOWN (ORNAMENTAL) FOR THE YEAR 1910
Pounds Value Venezuela 8,398 $191,058 Brazil 787 5,999 Japan 2,284 3,830 China 6,329 16,308 Tripoli 345 900 Egypt 21,047 89,486 Java, Sumatra, and Borneo 15,703 186,504 Cape of Good Hope 709,406[E] 9,747,146 British India 18,359 22,137 Hong-Kong 310 3,090 British West Indies 30 97 Other British Colonies 10,438 21,938
[Footnote E: Chiefly Ostrich feathers.]
The above does not take into account the feathers from game birds received in England from France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and the Netherlands.
As a final side-light on the quantity of egret and heron plumes offered and sold in London during the twelve months ending in April, 1912, we offer the following exhibit: