The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1899-12-19
A BIRD IN THE BONNET.
MllllNESS ARE SUBSTITUTING
FEATHERS FOR FLOWERS.

Beautiful Birds Are Sacrificed That They
/ May Adorn Miiady's Bonnct-Eyen the
/ English Sparrow Is "a Sunerer-Fcath-
cred Creatures Arc Becoming Scarce.
I Feathers have taken the place of
/ flowers in the windows of the millinery
marts, and the heart of the bird lover
/ is sad. Dame Fashion seems to have
/ decrecd that the songster aud the
+ soft breasted birds from the sea"
| must be sacrificed that the bonnet and
/ the walking hat may be made beauti-
| full, aud where is the woman who can
withstand fashions fiat? Inone great
/ store, from which once went forth the
/ promise that so far as it was possible
| the sale OF feathers should he limited
/ to those OF game birds and domestic
fowl, there are to-day shown the bodies
| OF birds which when living DO as much
as blade, leaf or flower to add to the
attractiveness of nature.
In the windows of the store men
/ toned and in nearly all the others rs
well are shown whole closely feathered
breast skins ripped ruthlcssiy from the
/ BIRDS known as the great northern
| divers or looms. The call Of this bird.
weird sort of laugh, is typical of the
| wilderness OF remote Wisconsin lakes.
/ The laugh of the lake loon is as much
/ part of the charm of the wild north
/ ern summer life rs is tho FLASHING of
! the water upon which the bird makes
/ its home. 1t builds its nest in the
/ scdSe OF some little island lake. When
the home is completed something softer
| comes into the divers eyes, which be-
fore had mirrored only the wildness of
its surroundings. Before the young
/ birds appear in the messy structure on
the shore it is useless for the plume
/ hunter to attempt the killing of the
looms. They keep long stretches of
/ water between themselve auds the
PROV of his predatory boat. They
! laugh and dive at the flash of his rifle.
But the young come, and parental
! love makes the birds fearful for the
safety OF their kbrood, and then the
man who shoots that womau's bonnet
may be decked finds an easy prey. 1t
matters little perhaps that, like the
| offspring of the egret in the everglades
/ OF Florida, the young of the loon
clamor three days for food which does
not come before final silence falls
/ upon the lake.
In death they are not divided In
| the same windows which show the
beautiful black aud white plumage of
| the looms are to be seen hundreds of
! terms and Gulls, birds which when
( flying nOrthward accompany the great
| diver in its spring migration. The
coloring of the plumage of these grace
nj 1
they We're killed at The breeding sea
son. In the spring the Bouaparte
/ gull, one of the most common of our
northern lake visitants, throws off its
| winter hood of white and takes on
cap of black. The contrasting gray
white and jetty black make one of
| fashions desired contrasts. There
| fore the milliners' agents must needs
seek out the haunts OF the Bonaparte
| gull while it is rearing its Young.
! When the cares of the household are
/ over the bird changes its bonnet once
more. So the plume hunters work.
| to be done well from their point of
| view, must be done quickly, and the
birds are killed while bearing food to
the nestlings.
Gulls and terms are COMPOUNDED by
most people who have not made a
study Of winged feathered creatures.
The flight of the two species of birds
northward is coincident, but they are
as different in habit as they are in
| plumGgo. They arc both beautiful
and both of graceful flight. They add
n living interest to the wind-swept
| lake shore. The tern dives for its
| food from height, and shooting
down head first disappears under the
water. The gull comes down more
slowly for its food, grasping it with
| extended feet. BY these characters
tics the uninitiated may know them.
| The hocks of gulls and terms that go
northward in April aud southwark in
| September are yearly getting smaller.
Tho Illinois Audubon Society is
/ over two years old. 1t has many
members and it has done a good
work. Last winter, largely through
the efforts of the society, a law was
/ passed by the Illinois Legislature
which makes the possession Of any
harmless bird, living or dead, an of.
! feuse punishable by n fine. Prior 10
the enactment OF this law it was IL
| legal TO kill any harmless bird, but i'm
/ order that punishment might be in.
| iictcd the person must bo caught in
I the act of killing For possession
1 there was no penalty. II must be
/ confessed that those bird lovers TO
\ whom the task will fall look with
some trcpidatiou upon the work ahead
which involves an attack upon cita-
/ del in the shape of n womau's bon
net II may he that the dealers who
/ offer this bird piumago for sale i'm de-
[ fauce Of law aud the women who wear
/ it as defantly will say that the feather
covered skin of bird does not con
stitutc a dead bird in the eyes Of the
/ law
/ The water birds are not tho only
/ ones which have suffered this season
/ That hat plumes may be Haunted. The
l ranks of song birds have been de.
/ plctcd, and TO the eye Of even tho
/ casual observer the cry OF "dycd Eng
/ lish sporrows" availcth nothing. IF
/ &c be true, u.s. tho best scientists de-
/ clare, that mans disappearance from
I the earth cannot be long delayed after
I the disappearance OF tho birds. then
/ 10 is time that the subject Of bird pro.
lection be considered seriously. Chi