Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1895-06-05
THE WEARING OF EGRET PLUMEs,

Nothing for some time has been more
commonly seen than the delicate airy
plumes which stand upright in ladies'
bonnets. These little feathers were
provided by nature as the nuptial adorn.
ment of the white heron. Many kind
hearted women who would not on any
account do q cruel act, yet are, by fol-
lowing this fashion, causing the con-
tinuance o a very great cruelty. In
speaking of the excuses for wearing
these ornaments, W. II. Hudson, G. M.
z. s., author of 1.-THE Naturalist in La
Plata" and part author of Argentine
Ornithology," says, Ladies' have re-
peatedly assured me in all seriousness
that milliners makes these fine plumes
out of the commonest feathers. \ Nm
The airgrette worn by ladies in our day
is in very nearly all cases actually
made of the slender decomposed feath-
ers that grow at n time of the year
on the egret's back and drop gracefully
over the sides and tail of the bird. The
less fine plumes with shorter and sitter
flaments are from the squacco heron,
which is not a egret." Mr.. Hudson
adds that those who engage in the bust
ness of procuring these plumes know
that to obtain a good supply with little
trouble the birds must be taken when
the breeding season is we'll advanced.
The best time to attack them is when
the young birds are fully fedged but
not yet able to fly; for at that time the
solicitude of the parent bird is greatest,
and, forgetful of their own danger, they
are most readily made victims. And"
he continues, when the killing is fin
ished and the few handfuls of coveted
feathers have been plucked out the
slaughtered birds are left in a white
heap to tester in the sun and wind in
the sight of their orphaned young that
cry for food and are not fed. There is
nothing in the whole earth so pitiable
as this-so pitiable and so shameful
that for such a purpose human cunning
should take advantage of that feeling
and instinct which we regard as so no
BILE in our own species and something
s~acred-the tender passion of the par
ent for its offspring, which causes it to
neglect its W safety and perish mis-
erably a sacrifice to its love. n n v
And those who, not ignorant of the
facts, encourage such things for fash
ions sake, and for the qualification of
o miserable vanity, have a part in it,
and perhaps are more guilty than the
wretches who are paid to do the rough
work.
Continuing to speak of the time when
the birds wear these plumes, this writer
says, ut is when in that gayer dress
that birds are most valuable for the
purpose of fashion and for other forms
of decoration; nor is this all; it is then
that they are most easily found and
taken. The shyest, most secretive
kinds lose all their wild instincts in
their overmastering anxiety for the
safety of eggs or young. And when
the poor bird, uttering piercing cries,
its sensitive frame quivering, its bill
gaping, as If the air could no longer
sustain it in its intense agitation, and
futtering its lovely wings to make them
more conspicuous, and by such means
draw the danger away from its treas
ures and on to itself-when it has beer
ruthlessly shot for its feathers, its
~fledgelings are left to starve in the
nest. And if to the starved young we
add all the birds that fly away with
pellets of lead in their bodies, to Ian
guish and die of their wounds, it would
be no exaggeration to say that for every
plume worn in a lady's hat ten birds
have suffered the death pang."
The mania for egret plumes is &C
great that, if anything, it exceeds tina
foI wearing the bodies of birds, and il
what is it the better? Any observanr
person who notices these plumes wav
ing, not singly, but often in clusters
on the heads of so many women, mus
know that the slaughter has not beer
thousands but millions. 1t goes with
out saying that women must adorr
themselves; but are there not many
ways of doing it which need not involve
such heartless crueltyp Ought no
every good and gentle woman who haI
learned Of it, to shun the responsible,
of carrying aloft the trophies of sucl
brutal work? MARY f. LOWELL.
docs Woggles manage to make hi