§ Mr. Sandelsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the birds ordinarily used in the United Kingdom as part of the human diet within the meaning of paragraph 18(a) of Schedule 3 of the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Bill.
§ Mr. Denis HowellThe terminology here derives from the Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act 1921. I am advised that it has hitherto been taken to cover pheasants, partridges, quails, pigeons, common snipe, plovers, larks and ortolan buntings as well as domestic fowl, turkeys, geese, ducks and guinea fowl, although of these birds it is mainly the plumage of the domestic species that is in trade.
I am not, however, happy with the terminology of the 1921 Act and I have asked the Scientific Authority for Animals to consider whether it can be improved.