_Offered_ _Sold_ Venezuelan, long and medium 11,617 ounces 7,072 ounces Venezuelan, mixed Heron 4,043 " 2,539 " Brazilian 3,335 " 1,810 " Chinese 641 " 576 " 19,636 ounces 11,997 ounces Birds of Paradise, plumes (2 plumes = 1 bird) 29,385 24,579 [Illustration: BEAUTIFUL AND CURIOUS BIRDS NOW BEING DESTROYED FOR THE FEATHER TRADE--(III) Griffon Vulture Herring Gull Jabiru Condor Emeu Indian Adjutant] Under the head of "Hummingbirds Not Wanted," Mr. Downham is at great pains to convey[F] the distinct impression that to-day hummingbirds are scorned by the feather trade, and the demand for them is dead. _I believed him_--until my agent turned in the following statement: Hummingbirds sold by Lewis & Peat, London, February, 1911 24,800 Hummingbirds sold by Lewis & Peat, London, May, 1911 6,250 Hummingbirds sold by Hale & Sons, London, October, 1911 10,040 ------ Total 41,090 It is useless for anyone to assert that these birds were merely "offered," and not actually sold, as Mr. Downham so laboriously explains is the regular course with hummingbird skins; for that will deceive no intelligent person. The statement published above comes to me direct, from an absolutely competent and reliable source. [Footnote F: "The Feather Trade," by C.F. Downham, p. 63-4.] Undoubtedly the friends of birds, and likewise their enemies, will be interested in the prices at which the skins of the most beautiful birds of the world are sold in London, prior to their annihilation by the feather industry. I submit the following exhibit, copied from the circular of Messrs. Lewis & Peat. It is at least of academic interest. * * * * * PRICES OF RARE AND BEAUTIFUL BIRD SKINS IN LONDON