159 



At the end of the first six months of its existence the Audu- 

 bon Society had enrolled over ii,ooo members, and it was 

 deemed necessary to incorporate. Steps were taken to that 

 end. and on August 6, 1886, the incorporation was completed 

 in the city of New York, with the corporate title of "The 

 Audubon Society for the Protection of Birds." 



During 1888 the tide of bird protection rapidly declined, im- 

 the subject seemed to be given little attention in the public 

 press. "Forest and Stream," in an editorial in November, said 

 as follows : 



"Essays have been written to demonstrate the foolishness of small 

 bird destruction, laws have been passed to protect the useful species, so- 

 cieties have been organized and tens of thousands of members enrolled 

 pledged against the fatuous fashion of wearing bird skins as dress; argu- 

 ments, pleas, appeals to reason and appeals to sentiment have been 

 urged; and what is the outcome of it all? Fashion decrees feathers; and 

 feathers it is. The headgear of women is made up in as large a degree 

 as ever before of the various parts of small birds. Thousands and mil- 

 lions of birds are displayed in every conceivable shape on the hats and 

 bonnets. This condition of affairs must be something of a shock to the 

 leaders of the Audubon Society, who were sanguine enough to believe 

 that the moral idea represented by their movement would be efficacious 

 to influence society at large. Meantime the reintroduction of feather 

 millinery in no way derogates from the value of the work done by the 

 Audubon Society. It has called attention to the ethical and economic 

 aspects of the question and has educated a very respectable minority to 

 organized action. In the face of this minority thoroughly convinced that 

 indulgence in feather millinery is wrong in itself, or conducive to conse- 

 quences inimical to human well-being, the arbiters of fashion cannot 

 achieve that complete success they have been accustomed to look for." 



By December. 1888. organized effort for bird protection in 

 the United States had practically ceased to exist. 



An analysis of the cause of the decline in this important work 

 points to the following reasons : The movement was started and 

 carried on as a single society, the expenses of the same being 

 borne by a liberal and public-spirited corporation that was 

 organized for another purpose. The magnitude of the under- 

 taking was too great for an}- person or corporation to carry 

 on unaided, the actual physical labor and the great expense 

 were beyond the strength or purse of anything but a coopera- 

 tive movement among the several states and the contribu- 

 tions of hundreds of individuals. There was also a total lack 



