The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-03-27
BIRDS THAT GO ON HATS.
An Explanation of Scme Ofthe Myste-
rtous Creations that are Seen.


A great heap Of widespread antlers in
the window, with simple black and white
sign above them which reads, "Taxider-
mist, is the only street display of down
town place Of business where hundreds OF
thousands of birds have been fiayed and
their skins dressed for the ornamenting of
hats and bonnets, and hundreds of hides
of all sorts of animals, from a mouse to
cinnamon bear or an African tiger, have
been mounted for the use of dealers in furs
and the decoration Of parlors and studies.
The chief part of the business is the prepa-
ration of birds for milliners. A pretty
black-eyed girl behind the counter in the
front room said that the business was not
very brisk in winter, but with the coming
of the birds in spring it would become very
What kind of birds do you use most ?"
"The common sOrtS-red-winged black
birds, reed birds, snipes, turtle doves, ort-
oles, yellow birds, thrushes. Any small
bird can be used
- How do you get them s'
We buy them from men who make a
business of supplying us. Most of the birds
we handle are from New Jersey, but a good
many come from Long Island, and we re-
ceive some from the West and South. a
few are imported"
"What do you pay for them ,"
THAT depends on the fashions entirely.
Two years ago the demand of the milliners
was for red wings and yellow birds. We
paid from twenty-five to thirty-ftve cents
apiece, and at one time we had 10 pay as
high as fOrty-Seyen cents apiece Tor a lot.
Last year we got all we wanted at from
seven to eight cents each. When the hunt
ers have to supply brisk demand, they can
get more, of course, because the supply Of
birds of each variety does not vary greatly
from year TO year"
do the hunters shoot the birds ?"
q guess not. l do not find any shot in
faying those bought from regular Gus
"How do they catch them then ?"
" guess you could not get them to tell
you. There Is one man who brings us from
/ 500 to 1000 a week during the warm
months He says he has a partner and no
other help He lives in Red Bank. One
would think the woods would be depOpu-
lated, or else that he would get rich enough
to retire, but he has been working away
Where do all these fancy birds that
look like pictures of tropical rarities come
from ?"
"A All from Jersey. BY inserting a snipe's
bill in the place of the bill Of crow black
bird, and then combining parts of the skins
of other common birds we produce = mon
strosity, but If the cOlOrS are well matched
the result is attractive TO the common eye,
however groteSque it may appear to one
who knows all about the appearance of
birds. II is not uncommon to see in the
Grand street windows hats that have half
a dozen bird heads projecting from one
mass of feathers that might be the breast
of swan OF the pickings from a second
hand pillow. The wings that adorn some
hats are about as much like wings as a
stOvepipe is like a lead pencil But those
queer tastes are the making Of our bust
ness. The portions of the birds skin
which are cut away when mounting bird
naturally for hat can all be used up in
wings by gluing them on model | read
in The Sun the other day about an Ohio
young woman whose nerves were wholly
shattered in a millinery store because, as
the article said, of her sympathy for the
poor little birds she had to handle.
guess there was some error about that.
think the shock must have come from a
contemplation of some Of our combination
birds. She has my sympathy"