Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-01

gagged in this trade throughout the
world should be kept busy than that
birds should be permitted to increase.
Went Into Bankruptcy
Precisely so my dear Mr.. Business
man, but have you stopped to reflect
that the last time this craze for birds
man milliners, too, IL you please, who
stocked up on stuffed birds, and that
when the great revulsion in sentiment
swept over the country and women re-
fused to buy their wares, some scores
of them went into bankruptcy?
And how about the farmer. who Is,
after all, the food provider of the whole
country, business men, idle women,
milliners and all of us, in fact? Isn't
he entitled to some consideration, and
don't you know that even crows do
more good than harm, and that the
United States department of agricul-
ture has been carrying on a campaign
of education for years to prove to the
farmer that birds are his best friends? :?
Careful investigation has proved that
even hawks and owls have by no means
deserved their evil regulations. while
to destroy every bird which has been
under suspicion as robber OF grain,
fruit and poultry would be to give over
the crops to the insects upon which
birds feed naturally and by preference?
Many Varieties Killed
Now 1t isn't this class of birds which
is in danger from a revival of the mil
linery fad of wearing dead animals.
Neither these birds nor the varieties
killed for food appeal as strongly to
the milliner as the brightly colored song
bird.
Some years ago the destruction of
such birds for decorative purposes
reached the enormous total of 100000
900. OF these between 25.000,0 900 and 30-
900 were imported into England
alone; 50.o00,000 were destroyed to meet
the demands of American women and
crafty the vanity of women of Eu-
ropean countries. The figures quoted
are for a single year.
DR.. Allen points out that from 1882
to 1883 the wholesale and indiscrim-
mate slaughter of North American song
and insectivorous birds almost caused
the total extinction of many varieties.
In place of hundreds of thousands of
terms or "sea swallows" the demand of
fashion reduced them to a few colonies
of perhaps a few hundred pairs each.
"These owed their preservation to the
efforts of a few ornithologists, assisted
by aid from philanthropic sources, in
cluding the American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Annals, who
secured their legal protection by hav-
ing their resorts effectually policed by
regularly authorized wardens."
The same learned authority speaks in
pathetic terms of the almost complete
determination of the white heron, for
merly abundant in the South Atlantic
and gulf states. These birds furnish
the much priced aigrettes. "These dell
cate plumes," says DIR. Allen, form
the nuptial adornment of the heron,
worn alike by both sexes and only
during the nesting season. Their high
commercial value is sufficient incentive
to lead the insatiate plume hunter.
and no refinement, to seek out the
mote sub-tropical swamps. 1t is an
easy matter for the plume gatherer to
steal into their midst and concealed
from view, shoot down the unsuspect-
ing birds as they approach the nest to
bring food to their young. Parental af-
fection renders the birds needless of
danger" And the nestlings are left to
starve!
A great majority of states passed
protective laws as a result of the last
campaign against cruelty, but unless
sentiment Is revived these laws are in
danger of wholesale violation at home
and abroad. have thought 1t well to
call the attention of my sisters through
out the land to the danger which
threatens while there is yet time to
avert 1t.