The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1896-07-14
ENCOURAGING CRUELTY.
Women Who Wear Aigrettes Induce
Men to Slaughter.
A Fad Which should be stopped
Feathers on Headgear
Out of Place.

Nothing for some time has been
more commonly seen than the deli
cate airy plumes which stands upright
in ladies' bonnets. These little feath-
ers were provided by nature as the
nuptial adornment of the white heron
Many kind-hearted women who would
not and could not on any account do
cruel act, yet are, by following this
fashion, causing the continuance of
very great cruelty. In speaking of
the excuses for wearing these orna-
ments, w. H. Hudson, c. M. 2. S.,
author of "The Naturalist in La
Plata" and part author of Argentine
ORTHODOXY says, Ladies have re-
peatedly assured me in all seriousness
that milliners make these fine plumes
out of the commonest feathers.
The aigrette won by ladies in our day
is in very nearly all cases actually
made of the slender decomposed feath-
ers that grow at one 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 stiff
er filaments are from the squacco he
ron, which is not an egret." Mr.. Hud-
son adds that those who engage in
the business of procuring these plumes
know that to obtain good supply
with little trouble the birds must be
taken when the breeding season is well
advanced. The best time to attack
them is when the young birds are fully
fiedged 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 finished and the
few handfuls of coveted feathers have
been plucked out, the slaughtered birds
are left III white heap to tester in the
sun and wind in the sight of their or
phaned 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 noble in our own species
and as something sacred-the tender
passion of the parent for its offspring,
which causes it to neglect its own safe
ty and to perish miserably, a sacriflce
to its loyei And those who, not
ignorant of the facts, encourage such
things for fashions sake, and for the
qualification of a miserable vanity
have part in it, and are perhaps 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: ''It is when in that gayer dress
that birds are most valuable for the
purposes 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 birds
lose all their wild instincts in the over
mastering anxiety for the safety Of
eggs or young. And when the poor bird
uttering piercing cries, its sensitive
frame quivering, it's bill gaping as Il
the air could no longer sustain it in its
intense agitation, and iuttering its
lovely wings to make them more con.
spicuous, and by such means drag thG
danger away from its treasures and or
itself-when it has been ruthlessly shot
for its feathers, its fiedglings are left
to starve in the nest. And if to the
starved young we add all the birds thai
fly away with pellets of lead in theil
bodies, to anguish and die of theil
wounds, it would be no exaggeration t
say that for every plume worn in &
lady's hat ten birds have suffered the
death pang."
The mania for egret plumes is sc
great that, if anything, it exceeds thai
for wearing the bodies of birds, and in
what is it better? Any observant per
son who notices these plumes waving
not singly, but often in clusters, on tbs
heads of so many women, must know
that the slaughter has not been thou
sands, but millions. 1t goes without
saying that women must adorn them
selves; but are there not many ways Of
doing it which need not involve such
heartless cruelty? Ought not every good
and gentle woman who has learned o.
it to shun the responsibility of carry
ing aloft the trophies OF such bruta
UarIx7 MARY I0VEIJ