The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-07
SLAUGHTER OF BIRDS.
1t Is All Due to the Fact That Women
Must Have Their Hats Adorned.

The fashion of wearing an overabun-
dance of birds, wings, aigrettes, plumea
and every conceivable thing in which
birds plumage may be used has called
the attention of scientists to the fact that
| this wholesale slaughter of birds is rapid
| ly exterminating not only those valued
for the beauty of their plumage, but those
| whose value to the agriculturist is ines
| timable, says the New York Herald.
Ornithologists Of both England and
this country have been agitating the ques-
tion for some time. In our own state the
Audubon Society has sent forth many
appeals to women to desist from the habit
of loading down their hats with masses
of wings, and even whole birds, as has
been the fashion this past winter. They
| assert that did women really know how
cruel this pampering of their vanity was
they would be loath to add to the whole
sale destruction of birds.
They do not say, "wear no feather"
but they say, "wear the feathers of do.
nestle birds, or OF birds shot during the
time allotted to the sportsman, and ao-
cording to their showing the variety of
beautiful millinery trimmings to be OBJ
tanned from this. limited number is very
might not meet tho demand.
A prominent ornithologist of this city
con nected with the Museum of Natural
History SAID to me:
There are 10000 COO women in
A mericn. We will say. that every woman
W ears bird feathers OF some kind in her
hat. l say every woman, because / aver
age my statement in this manner, for
this season. Some women have as many
as ten wings in their hats, and that
means five birds tosget those ten wings.
You can see that l am not eXaggerating
when I say that more than 100000
birds are killed every year.
"Now, if these birds were killed during
the season set apart by law there would
be no harm done. The game laws provide
s.. certain limit, during which time it is
permissible to shoot certain birds. At
that time they have Matched their young
and for those killed there are others to
take their places. No sportsman who has
been watching covey of quail is going
to allow any one to come in and shoot
over his land
AS an Offset to the points advanced by
the ornithologist, feather merchants de-
clare that even now they cannot supply
the demand for birds for millinery pur-
poses, and if they were restricted to
limited time and to few species of do
nestle or wild birds they might as well
go out of business.
According to the opinion of ornitholo-
gists of this country and England, the
greatest danger is threatened to the vari-
GUS species of "egrets' Or white herons, -
from whose tail feathers are procured the
ever popular, fashionable "aigrette.
The average woman who buys an aigrette
knows nothing of how these feathers are
obtained. She has no idea what they
are, where they come from, how they are
procured, or, in fact, anything in relation
to them, beyond the fact that they are
stylish, graceful and in every case expen-
sive, and therefore more desirable.
In paper read recently before a meet
ing OF the Audubon Society, Mr.. Frank
NJ Chapman said:
"Aigrette plumes constitute the we'd
ding dress of the several species of white
herons or egrets, and are worn only dur
ing the nesting season. These birds are
exceedingly sociable in disposition, and
when breeding gather in large colonies
of rookeries, often containing hundreds OF
pairs.
1.-THE plume hunter having discovered
a rookery by watching the birds as they
fly to and from their nests, surveys the
ground learns the lines of flight followed
by the birds and the perches or lookout
stations they usually frequent when re-
turning to their homes. Armed, prefer
ably with small rifle, he then secretes
himself in a favorable position. The