regards the vast majority of fancy feathers used in millinery, the
Continent receives its own supplies. The feathers of the hundreds of
thousands of albatrosses which are killed in the North Pacific all go to
Paris. Of the untold thousands of 'magpies,' owls, and other species
which come from Peru, not one skin or feather crosses the Channel. The
white herons of the Upper Senegal and the Niger are being rapidly
exterminated at the instigation of the feather merchants, but not one of
the plumes reaches London. Paris receives direct a large supply of
aigrettes from South America and elsewhere.... The millions of
swallows and other migratory birds which are killed annually as they
pass through Italy, France and Spain on their way north, supply the
millinery trade of Europe with an incredible quantity of wings and other
plumage, but none of it is distributed from London.... London, as a
distributing center, has no monopoly of the trade in raw feathers."

Mr. Buckland's green-covered pamphlet is a powerful document, and both
his facts and his conclusions seem to be unassailable. The author's
address is Royal Colonial Institute, Northumberland Ave., London, W.C.

The duty of the civilized nations of Europe is perfectly plain. The
savage and bloody business in feathers torn from wild birds should be
stopped, completely and forever. If the commons will not arise and
reform the odious business out of existence, then the kings and queens
and presidents should do their plain duty. In the suppression of a world
crime like this it is clearly a case of _noblesse oblige_!

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIV.

THE BIRD TRAGEDY ON LAYSAN ISLAND

This chapter is a curtain-dropper to the preceding chapter. As a
clearly-cut, concrete case, the reader will find it unique and
unsurpassed. It should be of lively interest to every American because
the tragedy occurred on American territory.

In the far-away North Pacific Ocean, about seven hundred miles from
Honolulu west-b'-north, lies the small island of Laysan. It is level,
sandy, poorly planted by nature, and barren of all things likely to
enlist the attention of predatory man. To the harassed birds of
mid-ocean, it seemed like a secure haven, and for ages past it has been
inhabited only by them. There several species of sea birds, large and
small, have found homes and breeding places. Until 1909, the inhabitants
consisted of the Laysan albatross, black-foo