Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1899-12-28

headgear.
| 1t Is civilized women, too. not say
| ages, who deck themselves with these
trophies of cruelty. Each year feath-
ers become more and more a feature
of millinery This season the fashion
is at it's height
FEMININE vanity demands the whole
sale slaughter of birds of every kind.
No hat is correct that has not de-
spoiled some of the feathered tribes
for its adjoining, Whole birds and
heads of birds, breasts, wings aigret-
! ties, feathers, quilts are seen on almost
every fair woman's head.
! In the neighborhood of Broadway
and Twenty-third street a New York
| World reporter took snapshots of some
OF the hats that passed, He secured
pictures three hats with whole
paroquets, two hats with owls heads
one cluster Of humming birds, one hat
trimmed with the wings of nine hum
ming birds, five bird of paradise
plumes, one red bird, the wings of six
blue birds, a robin red breast, six
starlings, two knocking birds, four
doves, the wings of a gold-fnch, seven
blackbirds and sixteen sea guls, be-
sides the wings and breasts of many
birds of unknown species.
As fashions change the demand for
birds varies. Seagulls are the latest
millinery favorites and form the trim
ming OF the popular walking hats. The
whole bird is worn bodily. either in
front or at one side. This fashion has
seriously alarmed ornithologists, for
these birds are our coast defenders.
They constitute a winged Board OF
Health and clean the waters of decay
ing matter. These sea scavengers are
the friends of coast dwellers, and wher-
ever they are exterminated sickness in
creaseS.
Even the albatross, the bird of which
The Ancient Mariner says:
And had done hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe,
For all averred | had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow,
does not escape. Entire hats are now
seen made of albatross feathers.
The extent to which the slaughter
of birds is carried in the United States
is astonishing. A factory at Wantagh,
l.. l., owned by William l.. Wilson,
where the skins and plumage of birds
are prepared for millinery purposes,
was recently destroyed by fire. There
were burned in the factory 10000 sea-
gulls, 10000 wings of other birds and
10000 heads of birds representing
many varieties
This establishment had men at Cape
Cod the islands on the Maine coast
and along the shores of Virginia,
Georgia and Florida busy filling orders
for birds.
A number of cunning parties have
already been sent out from the factory
for this winter. One party went out
in a sloop to hunt nothing but water
fowls. another went south with
naphtha launch to explore southern
rivers for birds and another went to
search the Florida coast. One hunter
killed 400 nesting birds in four days
and another shot IA 100 in Florida in
one season.
In every quarter of the globe
fashions bird tax has been levied
Even the turkey buzzard contributes
his quota. 1t is true law in this
country prohibits the killing of these
but since their quilts have
become popular ornaments they are
trapped and the quilts pulled out, after
which they are turned loose to starye.
Women, who are said to be respons-
i've to others woes, do not betray that
quality when it comes to millinery.
There is no trimming for hats more
popular than fluffy aigrettes. These
aigrette plumes constitute the we'd
ding dress of the male and female
heron Only during the honeymoon
are they worn.
Then these sociable birds gather in
There are usually several /
hundred in a rookery. The plume
hunter has only to wait The birds /
out hunting food for their young soon I
return. One by one as they come they Z
stop to rest on the lookout perch.
There is the sharp crack OF a rife /
The bird falls Instinct brings every /.
bird back TO the trees whore their .
young birds starve.
So complete has been this heron .
slaughter that these birds are now
exterminated in Florida ,
and the plume-hunters have had to go I
to South America. A Florida hunter /.
once boosted that he had killed 300 in .
an afternoon.
Birds Of paradise are also disappear
ng. They, too, put on their beautiful .
Dlumes during the nesting season /
when they gather in droyes and have
heir dances in the trees. II is then .
mat they must be shot in order to get .
heir nuptial ornaments
This work pays well. Aigrettes are
worth their weight in gold Spoonbills
bises, breeding plovers, sandpipers,
erns. boat tailed blackbirds, gray .
-ing-birds. owls and hawks bring from
o cents to 81 carcess and from 20