Waterbury Democrat., 1901-07-16
THE BIRD ON THE HAT.


 Volumes have been written on the subject of the bird on the hat, and it is some times asserted that in spite of it all this decoration is more worn than ever. But this may be doubted. At any rate, any woman who choses- and q great many do choose-to wear a hat unadorned with the defunct body of bird, can do so nowadays without appearing either singular o: i'll dressed.
 The hope of the Audubon society and of various other organizations for the protection of birds, is that the time may come when I hat trimmed with plumage will be as curious an object as the feather crown of an Ashanti chief. One thing is certain, if fashion ever does take decided turn in this direction it is unlikely that the old barbarous custom will ever come back. It Is so essentially ugly and unpleas- ant in it's suggestiveneSS that it need only go out of style for few years to be abhored in its true light. But there are some people who, if gloves and belts made of tanned human skin from the dissecting room happened to be in the fashion, would wear them without more compunction than an Iroquois warrior felt in putting on his necklace VI Shl-Oh AllScIS.
 The custom of decorating women,s hats with the plumage of birds is prob ably as old as headgear itself, and may have arisen ill part from the no- ton common to many savage tribes that the qualities of an animal slain become the property of the slayer. Moreover, before the invention of vel vets, gauge and lace, the feathers of birds were among the most beautiful things available for the adornment of the human head. Tradition is partly responsible for the persistence of the custom in these later days.
 But there. is nothing pretty in it's later developments, however appropri- ate the wings or body of a bird might have seemed to the head of the hunt CTS wife, The modern hat is con- structed to fit the modern face and there is no beauty in the juxtaposition of fair, intelligent essentially civil ized countenance and the body of a blackbird with it's neck i'll suggestive twist. It hints at ugly possibilities ey- iSting underneath the charm and grace of the wearer. As for the face which is not charming, or intelligent or kind. the bodies of two or three hummingbirds or the head of an owl. speared with a hatpin and surrounded with bows of ribbon, lend to such a visage an aspect positively sinister
 It would be unjust, of course. to as sume that there is real cruelty under all this passive obedience to the dic- tates of fashion. But since hats and bonnets quite as becoming and pretty can be evolved without the bird deco ration as can be devised with it, it does seem that women of sense and feeling might be contented without shocking the sensibilities of the Audubon soci- ety and outraging the fitness of things by demanding q yearly sacrifice of bird life to adorn their heads. There was much sense in the retort of the little boy who, when reproyed by his pretty Sunday school teacher for robbing birds nests, and asked. in pathetic tones, where the poor mother was, re- piled, sShe ain't sufferin' none, miss she's on yer hat.' There is no excuse of ignorance to be pleaded. The pub. lie has been told over and over again that wearing ospreys means the death of multitudes of helpless little birds, since the feathers are best at the breeding season and the parent bird must be shot then. The fact that birds of particularly fine plumage are often skinned alive has also been made known; and the silence of woodlands and meadows, where the milliner's agent has been, speaks for itself. It is about time this senselesS and cruel fashion should go the way of nose rings and war paint.