New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-04

OFFICIAL STATISTICS OF THOSE SLAIN
FOR MILLINERY PURPOSES.
SOME SPECIES WILL SOON BE EXTINCT UNLESS
THE FEATHERED RACE Is PROTECTED

SOME SPECIES WILL SOON BE EXTINCT UNLESS
THE FEATHERED RACE IS PROTECTED
owls IN FASHION
THE terms Audubon societies ana bird protection
have become almost synonymous. and. thanks 10
the assistance Of the press. reader Of the daily
papers can now plead ignorance Of the aims Of
these societies" said Frank NJ Chapman. the chair
man Of the Executive Committee Of the Audubon
Society ~ the State Of New-York. TO Tribune
porte yesterday Comparatively few. however,
are aware Of the importance Of the work they have
undertaken TO accomplish.
NO one can doubt that II woman could he made
fully 20 realize the disastrous results which follow
her ,houghtless obedience to fashions commands.
she would rebel against a custom wholly at vari-
ance with the high moral standard OF her sex
The difficulty encountdrrd by all working for
The cause Of the Audubon societies, however. has
been IN securing information concerning the de-
str,ction OF birds for millinery purposes which
would be both reliable and convincing. For oh
vious reasons feather dealers are not inclined 70
furnish DATA in this direction. but through the Eng
llsh Society ,or tho Protection Of Birds the Audubon
Society Of the state OF New-York has received
trades lists Of the frequent sales OF birds and
feathers held at the London Commercial Sales
Room. one OF these lists includes the following
goods:
Osprey Yea theirs or aigrettes 500 ounces: peacock
feathers % l07 bundles: peacock neck-feathers s-s
pounds parrots. 35 is7 skins; hummingbirds, 2i956
skins: jays, 1870 skins; beeeaters, 2,2i6 skins:
impeyan pheasants 1917 skins: kinghshers. l.227
skins. trogons. l,iO5 skins; cocks OF the rock. 81
skins: taragcrs. SIS skins: argus pheasants, 10
skins: paradise birds. Is skins: orioles. 30 skins:
thrushes Is skins owls. lOS toucans' breasts. p:
various birds. 1885.
AT another sale reported by the secretary Of the
English Society there offered the following:
Osprey feathers algrettes. 1889 ounces, pea
cock feathers. 2lj05l bundles: birds Of paradise.
> 2 riS
7ie rollers and kingfshers ii6 400: owls and hawks.
1853
BIRDS KILLED DURING MATING SEASON.
1T is difficult to say with certainty how many
birds were Included IN this latter sale. The 1882
Of aigrettes represent doubtless some twen-
" thousand birds. and conservative estimate
would place the total number OF birds offered at
six hundred thousand. The figures startling
enough but they tell only half of the story. Most
of these birds are killed during the mating or nest
ing season. when their plumage is brightest. and
their death at this time often implies the deserton
OF a nest with its eggs and young.
In country cannot easily secure deh-
mite statistcs of the destruction OF birds for MILL
merry purposes. but 20 ornithologists the results OF
this destruction are painfully definite. The white
herons which furnish the aigret;e plumes, ana me
pearl-gray terms. swallows which are the
most popular birds In millinery adornment' nave
deere sed so rapidly In numbers that their carry
extinction In North America Is threatened l"e
beauty Of their pumare readily explains the popu-
larity OF these birds among mllliners. but we may
seek In vain for the reason which has made Owls
fashionable appendages TO the modern hat One
has only to the sadly nutilated heads % thvsS
birds OF wisdom. staring Vacanty through rn''o.
stone eyes TO be convinced that the dtNo''e VI
fashion IL indeed thoughtless. ,,.
Nor have our smaller song and insecuyorou Us
birds been spared. W. I. Hornaday, drt''o' o'
the New York Geological Society's park, IN Il &c,
ceat paper on The Destruction of our Brus a,
Mammals published In the second annual repTrs
the Geological Society. estimates that ths na ,t
life Of the United States has decreased ~ per .n W,
during the last fifteen years and considers H. H.
the facts established fully warrant tiS uen nra
that unless much radical and much n44,,S
general protective measures are taken lV'tn" ,n
the fifteen years Will witness the tot.tl AZ, Iii
laton' within the United States OF pracuc"E M
our birds except the warblers and sparroWs;, IT.,
"Only concerted effort the part OF an oIi
lovers can result i'm decreasing the present a,iJ u
destruction OF bird life. and TO an Such Inv @>
bon societies appeal for support ,- ...,o,t.s
TN names and addresses OF the eNistng su0,,i Nj.
with their secretaries, are as follows; Maine, La
Edith j. BOardman. BrunswicK; New, phes
Mrs Frank w. Batchelder. Myrtle tlll Maio pos
ter; Massachusetts Miss Harriet Il. Rlcharus Do,
ton Society OF Natural History. BerkeIey-st ys7
TOM Rhode Island Mrs. II. 7. Grant Jrii ,c No.
clover Fairfield New-York. Miss Emma ~ ~
wood No 2S West Seventy -hith-st, nnswSnoso,d,
city; Jersey Miss Mary A. Mellick ta ~, Snuth
PENNSYLVANIA Mrs Edward Robins NO; cclt,,,1h,,
Twenty -hrst-st Philadelphia District OF toi WasS
Mrs John Dewhurst Patten No 3oSs go tinron
st Chicago. AMI Wisconsin. Miss Madse N'"''
~ ,ai r.. Milwaukee.