Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-05-28
The Birds.
A Few Facts and Considerations for
Thoughtful Women OF BrattIeboro to
Let Lie in Their Minds.

months have been vocal with welcome bird
songs, but, to some observers, at least,
there is feeling that some of the choic er
varieties of birds are less common than in
years past. Bluebirds are notably few.
John Burroughs, the bird lover, naturalist
and delightful writer about outdoor things,
says that whereas, only few years ago the
bluebird was a common bird of the early
spring, even single specimen is now rare
ly seen in the region in New York where
he lives He attributes their absence, as
do others, to the slaughter which has been
waged against these and other song birds
to provide ornaments for women's bonnets.
1t seems incredible, after all that has
been written and said over and over on
this subject, that any woman of ntelli-
gence and refinement should be found who
is willing to own or to wear hat or bon
net decorated with the bodies of dead birds,
or with any of their plumage. A recent
writer on this subject has said:
"The most discouraging fact that can be
proved against woman is the absolute in
difference with which she has met the APP
peals of artistic taste, of science, and of
humanity to stop this horrible wholesale
slaughter of the birds. Ii is foolish and
trtling to plead longer the excuse of igno-
rance. If women are still ignorant of the
economic waste, OF the loss TO scientific
study, of the suffering and destruction
caused to crafty their vanity, then it is an
| impeachment of their intelligence and
common sense, if nothing worse Every
paper in the land has published the statis-
tics of this trade in feathers; and there is
hardly one that stands for anything more
than reporting thedaily news of the world
that has not sent out again and again ap-
| peals to women to have mercy on these
helpless creatures. Nevertheless, every
where one goes, the heart is saddened by
the evidences that these appeals are un-
needed. One cannot sit in church, and
| look around on the aigrettes, torn from
mOtherbirds whose little ones were left to
starve, and on the wings that might still be
| glancing in living beauty through the air,
making the spring more lovely, without
wondering what the gentle Nazarene, whose
words We repeat, whose religion we pro-
fess, would say to this He said once that
not sparrow can fall to the ground with
out the Father.
AT first thought, it would seem as if
| /
grounds of artistic fitness, to wear that on
| her head which cannot fail to suggest suf-
| fering and death to those who look at her.
Only debased artistic sense can find beau
ty in a dead bird, or in a part of a
dead bird, when thus used as deco
ration for womans hat. 1t is not as if
she were asked TO choose between such
ornamentation and bare, unrelieved plain
| ness, Is your milliner so poor in ideas
| that she has no other resources than those
supplied by trade which robs the earth of
its music and gadness and life, giving
nothing as a recompense? Then it is time
to choose another milliner, for there are
many who are glad to second the protest
against this wrong
The story of the effect wrought by this
slaughter of bird life for woman's adorn-
ment has been told over and over, but still
it goes on. Certain species of birds once
common have become extinct. The sea-
birds along our coasts are disappearing,
the wild pigeon has become almost a ira
dition, and the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington predicts, with authority, that
soon hardly any species of bird life will
survive except such as are domesticated.
Naturally the bright plumaged birds like
red winged blackbirds, scarlet tanagers,
bluebirds and orioles, fall the first victims.
But the milliners' craft does not stop here
The more common birds are ruthlessly
slaughtered and their wings, tails and
heads colored to any desired hue. Even
the sturdy robin, whose note is such a
gladsome sound in early spring, is killed
by the thousand in its southern home and
its plumage put through the dye-pot.
The sickening story of the slaughter of
the egret, or white herons, on our south
ern coast has been told so often that every
woman who reads a newspaper knows it,
or ought to know it by heart. These
birds are killed to secure the aigrettes so
commonly worn, and the slaughter takes
place just at the breeding season when the
mother birds cannot be driven to leave
their young Their own dead bodies are
left fostering heap, while the young birds
starve to death. 1t is of no avail for any
intelligent woman to excuse herself for
wearing bird plumage on the plea that
most, or many of the milliners' birds are
manufactured, for such is not the case.
And there are few credulous enough to be-
lieve that there are "a horsehair kind OF
aigrettes which look exactly like real ones, -
or that the birds plumage offered them
consists "only of such feathers as have
been dropped by birds in flight"
The question as to how this slaughter
shall be stopped is a serious one. The
only way to stop it is by stopping the de-
mand for the goods. Audubon societies
have been organized in many places, the
members of which are pledged not to veal
the bodies or feathers of any bird. Thi:
present article is suggested by the fact that
200 leading women of Chicago have pro
jected a state movement to protect the
birds. Perhaps there is hope after all
therefore. Why should not the woman :
clubs, the Endeavor societies, the King
Daughters, and the girls and women''
guilds of every kind take this subject uI
and see what it really means. Its litera
ture is abundant.
Farmers ought to be and will be the
most active ones in supporting a move
ment to save the birds, for every wild birt
destroyed means just so much less protec
tion from insect pests. Is not the place
after all, to begin this reform the public