The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1886-09-10
THE AUDUBON SOCIETY.
MILLIONS OF FEATHERED VICTIMS
SACRIFICED TO FASHION.

what Is Said by the Dealers In Miiiin-
cry suppIios-PIaint of Naturalist
and Taxidermist-The ornithoiogists
Union Committee-Pledges
The organization Of the Audubon society
for the protection Of wild birds, not tech
nically game, has drawn considerable atten-
tion TO the enormous slaughter each year of
birds OF this sort for millinery and other
decorative purposes For the last five years
song birds and pipers, birds with gay plum
age and without, have been killed in season
and out of season-in the woods, fields,
marshes and on the seashore-in appalling
numbers. Shooting birds 10 sell their heads
and skins has become business with hun
dreds of men and boys along the Atlantic
coast and in the interior. The terms and
sea swallows, once so abundant from Cobb's
island in Virginia to Cape Cod, have been
almost exterminated, and the meadow larks,
thrushes, robins, and bobolinks OF our
country fields are heard more and more
rarely near the large cities and even through
long stretches of Long island and New
Jersey.
IL is hard to ray at all accurately how
many birds pass yearly through the great
millinery establishments A writer in The
Science supplement for February puts the
number between 100000 and 10000
600 A correspondent of Forest and
Stream tells OF single col
lector who brought back ] 1 900 skins form a
three months southern tripin 1884, and says
that from one small district Of Long island
10000 skins were sent to New York in four
months There Is single New York taxi
dermist, according to the same paper, who
confesses to preparing $4,000 bird skins for
hats and bonnets every season.
WHAT TUE DEALERS HAVE TO SAY.
A Broadway dealer In millinery supplies,
said to n reporter that the demand for birds
this year was extraordinary large "The
expensive skins" he added, ARE imported
from Asia OF South America, but the small
and cheap ones we get entirely from the
native birds l couldn't say how many
were used in year; but have, for instance,
5000 English sparrows in stock now
Small birds sell for five and 10 cents piece,
only the imported ones bring over 81 or S3
Gulls, turns, snipe, larl1s, swallows, all kinds
are eqnally good. If they have dull or
ugly color, we dye them, and there is
market for all"
Another Broadway member of a firm
said that he could hardly conceive where
all the birds used came from. I'VE buy
he continued, "from 100000 to 100000 of
small American birds every year. We re-
ceived 10000 pairs of German magpies
few days ago They may be gone in a
week or in month The native birds are
very cheap We draw not only on Long
island and New Jersey, but on almost every
state in the Union As long as the fashion
continues suppose we shall still have sup
ply"
A naturalist and taxidermist said that OF
the local birds, meadow larks terms, snow
birds, cedarbirds, bluebrds, and sparrows
are most in demand by milliners "The de-
of our song birds and sea birds,
and the country birds, which eat obnoxious
insects, for such a purpose" he continued,
"is scandalous. Every farmer and country
boy almost ON Long island has taken to kill
ing birds and selling them for a few cents
a dozen. A good many of the skins are too
much torn with fine shot to be of any use
and many are spoiled by bungling country
operators 1t doesn't pay a good taxider-
mist TO go into this business We used to
get 30 cents for mounting bird Now we
would get about two or thres cents Taxi
dermy will have to stop If this wholesale
slaughter goes ON Millions of birds are
killed every year for women's hats and bon
nets They have gotten so cheap now that
every nurse or servant-girl can afford one,
and the result is that there's hardly a tern
left on the Atlantic coast, from Cape Cod
down to Florida or Mexico"
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS SLAIN
A correspondent of Forest and Stream
who was walking one afternoon in Fifth
avenue saw on ZOO hats 542 birds of forty
species, the common tern and quail being
most frequent A majority of the hats
without bird decorations were trimmed in
William butcher Of the American
Ornithologists' unions committee for the
protection OF birds told the reporter that the
swallow was about the only bird
that had escaped the millinera "Barn-
swallows, martens and all the sparrow tribe
are dyed and used extensively" he went ON.
"Orioles, crows, blackbirds, purple grackles,
redwing blackbirds, bobolinks, and terms
make very pretty ornaments The terms
have suffered most of all the birds near New
York They are practically exterminated.
know of 5000 having been killed in one
Long island town-Seaford- long ago
and hear that 10000 were shot on Capo
Cod In a single season. Mr.. Allen of our
committee says that 1000, 900 bobolinlxs were
killed In one month near Philadelphia. /
know of millinery house here which took
stock Feb. l and found 200, 600 bird skins ON
hand hope the fashion win soon change
There Is no law in any state, except perhaps
Maine, that is really protective
The Audubon society's pledges are as fol
lows: To discourage the killing Of any
bird not used for food; to discourage the
robbing of any birds nest or the destruc-
ton OF its eggs; and to refrain from the use
OF any wild birds plumage as articles of
dress or adornment Simply subscribing to
one Of those admits one to membership The
society's address is No 30 Park row, the Office
of Forest and Stream. New York Letter
The World Is Full OF Orphans.
II l could, without causing remark, when
ever met woman carrying dog,