Abstract
MAY I direct attention to the subjoined extract from the Englishman of Calcutta of June 4 last? It will give some idea of the degree to which wild peafowl are being destroyed in India so long as the open market for foreign plumage exists in the maritime countries of Europe. Of course, there is no objection whatever to the use of peacocks' feathers in any form of art, but sufficient for the purpose should be obtained from the millions of domesticated peafowl in Europe, Asia, America, and North Africa, without pursuing a war of extermination against the wild species still remaining in India. The peacock sheds his wondrously beautiful tail feathers every summer or early autumn, but I have reason to think that the bulk of the peacocks' plumes exported from India are derived from wild birds shot for the purpose. Mr. C. William Beebe, of the New York Zoological Society, has already directed attention to the extent to which the peafowl of India and Burma are being eliminated from the woodland. One would only ask in this case control of the destruction within reasonable limits.
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JOHNSTON, H. The Destruction of Wild Peafowl in India. Nature 93, 559 (1914). https://doi.org/10.1038/093559a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/093559a0
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