The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1907-05-24
sTHE HERON, CHOSEN TOPIC
AIr InNIAN CIIIR

OF IONIAN CLUB.
An interesting feature of the meet
ings of the members of the Ionian
Club during the past year. has been
under the caption: Chosen Topics"
ch member of the club has been
and discussing any subject of deep and
vital interest to her.
A. chosen topic prepared by Mrs e.
M. Little was THE Destruction of the
Heron This is a subject of import
ance and timely interest Alabama has
set the good example to other States
by the adoption of a law for the pro-
lection of it's birds, and Mrs. Little felt
that perhaps few women on fashion
bent realized how completely they are
party to cruel wrong" when they
wear the aigrettes that fashion makes
In vogue.
Educational leaflet No. T. issued by
the National Committee of Audubon
Societies Is on the subject of The
Snowy Heron" and the following ex-
tracts from 1t will make a woman
Know where she stands when she
wears an aigrette for the sake of
beauty.
The recent history of the White
Herons is pathetic in the extreme. as
1t is tale of persecution and rapid
determination. 1t was a sad day when
fashion decreed that the nuptial
plu .es of these birds should be worn
as millinery ornaments. Feathers and
scalps, rapine and blood, are the &C
compartments of savage life. but bet
ter things are expected of civilization.
TT is hardly possible that any wo-
men OF the present day are unac-
QuainteG with all the horrible details of
plume-hunting. The following pen
picture of the horrors of the plume
trade, drawn by Prof. T. Gilbert. Sec
rotary of the North Carolina Audubon
Society, shows the work in all its
bloody reality:
4" In the tall bushes, growing in a
secluded pond In a swamp. a small col
ony of Herons had their nesting home.
/ accompanied squirrel hunter one
ds.y to the spot, and the scene which
met our eyes was not rleasant one.
i had expected to see some of the
beautiful herons about their nests, or
standing on the trees near by, but not
living one could be found, while here
and there in the mud lay the Iifeless
forms of eight birds. They had been
shot down and the skin bearing the
plumes stripped from their backs.
Flies were busily at work, and they
swarmed up with hideous buzzings as
we approached each spot where vic
tim lay.
This was not the worst; in four
be seen who were clamofing piteous-
ly for food which their dead parents
could never again bring to them. A
little one was discovered lying with
its head and neck hanging out of the
nest, happily now past suffering. On
higher ground the embers of fire
gave evidence Of he plume-hunters
camp.
The next spring visited this
nesting site. but found only the old
nests st falling to decay. When
man comes. slaughters and extermin-
ates, Nature does not restore.:'
This story of single Florida col
ony Is the story of what has happened
in all of Florida, the Gulf coast of the
United States, along the Mexican and
central American coast, both on the
Atlantic and Pacific sides. and has ex-
tended into South America. From the
enormous numbers of herons' plumes
that are annually sold i'm the London
feather market, there is no doubt that
plume hunters are at work wherever
the white herons are found.
THE much sought-after plumes are
worn by the herons only for a very
limited period during the year, that
is, in the breeding season. Unfortu-
nateIy, during that time the herons
gather in colonies; whether this is for
protection or is merely social is not
knOWA. tie Oh tHc
year they are wild and wander over
large districts, when it Is impossible
for plume hunters to kill them in
quantities that would afford pecuniary
returns. However, during the breed
ing season the habits of these unfort-
innate birds change entirely, and with
the growth of the parental instinct
they lose all sense of fear or wildness
and the hunter has little trouble in
securing his victims. The death of
the parent birds entails the destruc-
ton of the helpless nestlings by the
painful and lingering method Of starv-
alton.
Dealers often state that 'aigrettes'
are manufactured, but this is not so;
man has never yet been able to initiate
successfully these beautiful plumes;
all that are offered for sale have been
torn from the backs of the smaller
white heron. Even the stiff plumes,
or stubs are not manufactured but
are the plumes of the larger species of
white herons.
"IIerons plumes are often sold as
'ospreys: this is simply another trade
name used to disguise the fact that
they are Herons' plumes: the Osprey
of science is the FISH hawk, which pro-
duces no plumes of any kind.
Both 'aigrettes' and stubs are dyed
various colors, especially black: how
ever, no matter what is the tint of the
plume its original color when on the