The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-06-10
BIRD SLAUGHTER.
Some of the Serious Consequences of the
Wholesale Destruction Of Songsters.


Some of the Serious Consequences Of the
Wholesale Destruction Of songsters.
About seven years ago profigate
woman appeared at ball in Paris
wearing stuffed bird as one of the or
naments of her bonnet. She had no
thought of starting new fashion; she
aimed only to make herself conspicu-
GUS for the passing hour; but her wan
ton freak has since found millions OF
imitators among all classes of women
on two continents. Linnets, orioles,
hummingbirds, woodpeckers, bull
fnches, canaries, snowbirds, mocking-
birds, sparrows, bluejays, robins,
blackbirds and even canvasback ducks
are in demand, no species being safe
except those whose weight is too great
for them to be carried as head-gear.
An enormous slaughter of song and
plumage birds has been necessary to
meet the demand of this barbarous
fashion. Seventy thousand white cur
lews were delivered in New York ir
four months time. Competent au
thorities estimate that for several
years past there has been an annual
slaughter of 5000, 600 song birds in thii
| country alone, and Mr.. G.. E. Gordon.
president of the American Humane So
ciety, says it will take three genera.
tions of mankind to restore the birds te
the number and condition of four yeari
| ago. The chimney swallow is about
| the only bird exempt from slaughter,
but the chief demand of the milliners
is for meadow-larks, snowbirds, cedar.
sparrows and terms. The latter species
has been almost exterminated, and
| scarcely specimen can now be found
| along the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod
to Mexico Every State has been laid
under tribute, and men and boys armed
with cheap shot-guns have ravaged
fields and forests in every part of the
country, creating a havoc to CRAFTY
| idiotic vanity that can not be repaired
within the lifetime of any man now
living.
Fortunately there has come at last
rebellion against this fashion so revolt
| ing in its nature and odious in its ORR
gin. Oddly enough, the protest is led
by women and has broken forth stimuli
| taneously in the fashionable circles OF
the East and in the agricultural States
| of the West, societies being formed in
both sections to discourage thewearing
of dead birds as ornaments. Doubtless
this action has been stimulated by the
widely-published assertion that some
| birds are skinned alive to preserve the
full beauty of their plumage, and even
| ultra-fashionable women do not feel
that they should be required to sport
trophies of cruelty among their person.
al decorations. Indignant naturaliste
declare that the taste which authorizes
the wearing of bird carcasses as orna-
ments is essentially the same as that OF
the savage who rejoices in display OF
| scalp-locks. Savages, however, wear
only feathers as articles of adornment,
and when they carry about the bodies
| of birds or rodents it is notfor the pur-
| pose of decoration but for protection
against evil charms. The theory that
the dead-bird- d-wearing fashion is an inn
itation of the savages must fall to the
ground. It originated in the vicious,
| depraved taste of a Parisian profligate
woman and has caused fearful havoc
among the songsters of the field and
| forest. In consequence of its rage the
warblers are disappearing from the
groves and the sweetest music of sum-
mer days is becoming silenced.
There is another aspect of the bird
slaughter which certainly demands
attention, and that is the injury to
farm crops through the unchecked
ravages OF insects. It has been esti.
mated that the death of every insect
eating bird means a loss of four bushels
of grain. This estimates may be very
| wide of the mark and founded only on
guess-work, but it is certainly true in
some degree; and if the injury to crops
| is only one-fourth as great as stated
| the damage must be considered ap-
| palling when at least 100000 birds
are slaughtered every year. The farm
| ers ought to be aroused to the inn
portance of keeping the bird-hunters
off their premises. Legislators can not
attack a female. fashion, however sense
less or revolving it may be, but they
ought to provide penalties for the
wanton destruction of song-birds. The
massacre of the birds. may soon prove
| a very serious matter, and the Audubon
| societies should not be left to combat
the evil single-handed. Chicago Trib
une.
The American maid is bound to