Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1906-06-07
CURRENT EVENTS.
Clipped from the Exchanges Which
Come to Our Table.
Slaughter of Innocents.

to adorn woman's hats this year
than ever before. In spite OF the
legislation in certain states, in spite
of the protests from societies all
over the world, with Queen Alex
andria Of England, an ardent friend
of the birds, the slaughter has CON
tinued.
Spring millinery is an utter
defiance Of the laws of bird protec-
ton, and millions Of brilliant hued
songsters have been killed to bedeck
The woman of 1906
The ssachusetts Legislature has
passed law making it an offense
to kill an American bird, and the
presentation Of the bill was one of
the most dramatic appeals in favor
of the American bird that has been
made in their behalf.
When the introducer OF the bill
stood before the legislature he
announced that he had no speech to
make, he merely wanted the birds to
speak for themselves. Then he
gave the plea of the oriole, the bob
olnk, the prayer of the tern, telling
what they would do for mankind if
the Legislature would only let them
live.
The bill was passed unanimously
and in Massachusetts the American
bird is safe.
Among the birds in America that
have suffered through woman's
desire for adornment are the snowy
heron, the brilliant hamingo, the
Carolina paraquet. These birds
have been practically exterminated.
The famingo is now found only in
the Bermudas, where once it was
found in great numbers in the
southern part Of the United States.
The Kentucky cardinal is another
brilliant bird that has been ruthlessly
slaughtered, while the Wilson's tern
The beautiful seagul, has fallen on
the altar of w6man's love for self
ornamentation.
The ruby -throated humming bird,
the only one Of this species to be
found in the northern states, has
been almost driven out.
One Of the most ruthless of mod.
ern slaughters has been that Of the
egret, or white heron, from which
fashionable women have procured
the aigrette.
As women know, the aigrette is
an expensive ornament, but they
must have it. This bit OF plumage
is made from feathers taken from
the back of the white egret. These
feathers, which are common to both
sexes, grow only at the time Of year
when the egrets are nesting and
breeding. The egret is shot, thu
few feathers desired are taken from
its back and the young perish Of
starvation.
For single aigrette made to
ornament one woman's hat many
egrets are ruthlessly massacred or
perish from starvation. When it is
explained that one bird produces
only one sixth of an ounce of plume
feathers the barbalous cruelty to
which hundreds OF birds are sacri-
feed is easily perceived.
In Florida the white herons which
have survived the campaign for
woman's adornment have been driven
into the almost impenetrable
morasses.
Mr.. Job, an orinthologist who has
investigated the conditions in Florida
has stated that ''the whole business
Of the slaughter of the white herons
for their plumes for millinery pur-
poses i one that every lover Of
nature and every person :of human
feeling will regard as infamous,
This traffic has almost exterminatetl
ne Two plume bearing species in
Ameriea." The egret Il ! type Of
~ heron, md The Ardea Candidis-
nina y ne snowy seret Of America.
- American bird (which i being