1 84 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



To this I may add my own observation, made yesterday, of a 

 large wholesale milliner's stock in this city. Taking a dozen or 

 two of boxes at random from the stock, here is the list : 24 tropi- 

 cal blackbirds (South American) ; 24 tropical orioles; 20 tropical 

 king-fishers — habitat, Mexican border to Brazil; 12 troupials (South 

 American) ; 6 h^ge and very wicked-looking jays (not recognized 

 as North American); 6 pigeons, of a species whose habitat is West 

 Indies, Central an South American and Florida, hence locality uncer- 

 tain, 12 white-shouldered blackbirds, ;/r'/ North American; 24 maroon 

 tanagers — Brazilian ; 6 heads of California quail ; i red-shouldered 

 blackbird; total, 137 skins, of which seven only are undoubtedly 

 North American, and none of this seven song-birds. 



I should not omit to mention the statement of my friend Mr. 

 Dury, as to seeing " bluebirds by the bushel" in a taxidermist's 

 stock in New Jersey. Now, Mr. D. does not say hoii.' ntany bush- 

 els, but we may suppose three bushels at one hundred skins to the 

 bushel to be a pretty fair stock. Three hundred bluebirds killed in 

 the State of New Jersey, with an area of 8,320 square miles, is 

 equal to one to about every thirty scpiare miles, and we are not 

 assured that they were taken all in one season either. Does any 

 one suppose this one blue-bird to thirty square miles would create 

 a noticeable gap in the fauna? But how small are these figures, 

 and how scanty the facts, as compared with those relating to the 

 gull, terns, herons, &c. To be sure we find mentioned liy Mr. 

 Allen, and quoted by your committee, "the million of rail and 

 bobolinks" killed in a single season near Philadelphia. These, 

 however, have been destroyed annually for the benefit of Philadel- 

 phia and New York epicures for many years before bird wearing 

 came into fashion, so it is out of the question to charge their 

 destruction to "bird-wearing ladies." And even with this formid- 

 able rate of destruction we do not see that either species has" become 

 extinct or even noticeably diminished in numbers. But su])pose 

 we consider, for the sake of argument, that birds art destroyed 

 equally for millinery purposes — songsters and l)eneficial s])ecies 

 along with those of negative value economically considered. To 

 what extent are bird-wearers responsible for their destruction ? 



Prominent amongst the statements made in Mr. J. A. Allen''s 

 paper, and quoted by your committee in the use of birds for milH- 

 nery purposes, is the assertion that ten million American women 

 are of a " l)ircbwearing age ami proclivities." Some might con- 



