256 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURXAL 



scalps of twenty-seven egrets from a client 

 who was unable to pay cash for a small ser- 

 vice rendered. He told me he had had much 

 pleasure in distributing these among his lady 

 friends. Another man went about the neigh- 

 borhood hunting male Baltimore orioles until 

 he had shot twelve; he wanted his sisters to 

 have six each for their Sunday hats. The 

 roseate spoonbill of the Southern States was 

 never extensively killed for the millinery trade 

 and yet today it is rapidly ajiproaching ex- 

 tinction. The feathers begin to fade in a 

 short time and for this reason have little 

 commercial value, but the amateur northern- 

 tourist feather hunter has not known this, 

 or has disregarded the fact, and has been the 

 cause of the depletion of the species in the 

 United States. Almost every one could cite 

 instances similar to the above, for there 

 are many people who are guilty of having 

 had some hand in the destruction of birds 

 for millinery purposes. In addition to the 

 feathers of American birds already mentioned, 

 the feathers of certain foreign species have 

 been very much in demand. 



One of the most popular foreign feathers 

 brought to this country is the paradise. 

 About nine species of paradise birds, found 

 in New Guinea and surrounding regions, 

 furnish this product. The males are adorned 

 with long, curved, delicate feathers which are 

 gorgeously colored. As in the case of all 

 other wild birds, there is no way of getting 

 the feathers except by killing the owners. 

 Much of this work is done by natives, who 

 shoot them down with little arrows, blown 

 through long hollow reeds. The high price 

 paid for these feathers has been the occa- 

 sion of the almost total extinction of some 

 of the species, as indicated by the decreased 

 number of feathers offered at the famous 

 annual London feather sales. Travelers in 

 the regions inhabited by the birds, speak of 

 the distressing effect of the continuous calls 

 of the bereft females, as they fly about in 

 the forests during the mating season. As a 

 high-priced adornment the paradise is the 

 one rival of the famous aigrette. 



The marabou which has been fashionable 

 for a number of years past comes principally 

 from the marabou stork of Africa. These 

 white, fluffy, downlike feathers grow on the 

 lower underpart of the body of the marabou 

 stork. These birds are found in the more 

 open parts of the country. Their food con- 

 sists of such small forms of life as may readily 



be found in the savannas and marshes. To 

 some extent they also feed like vultures on 

 the remains of larger animals. 



The long tail feathers of pheasants have 

 been much in demand by the millinery trade 

 during the past ten years. Although several 

 species contribute to the supply, the majority 

 are from the Chinese pheasant, or a similar 

 hybrid descendant known as the English 

 ring-necked pheasant. Many of these feath- 

 ers have been collected in Europe, where the 

 birds are extensively reared and shot on great 

 game preserves; vast numbers however, have 

 come from China. Oddly enough, in that 

 coimtry the birds were originally little dis- 

 turbed by the natives, who seem not to care 

 for meat. Then came the demand for 

 feathers, and the birds have since been killed 

 for this purpose to an appalling extent. 



The popular hat decoration called "nubia" 

 suddenly appeared on our market in great 

 numbers a few years ago. It is taken from 

 the Manchurian eared pheasant of northern 

 China. Unless the demand for these feathers 

 is overcome in some way there will undoubt- 

 edly come a day in the not distant future when 

 the name of this bird must be added to the 

 lengthening list of species that have been 

 sacrificed to the greed or shortsightedness of 

 man. 



The fashionable and expensive hat deco- 

 ration which passes under the trade name of 

 "goura" consists of slender feathers, usually 

 four or five inches long, with a greatly en- 

 larged tip. They grow out fanlike along a 

 line down the center of the head and nape of 

 certain large ground pigeons that inhabit 

 New Guinea and adjacent islands. Perhaps 

 the best known species is the crowned pigeon. 



There is a special trade name for the feath- 

 ers of almost every kind of bird known in the 

 millinery business; thus, there is "coque" 

 for black cock; "cro.ss aigrettes," for the little 

 plumes of the snowj' egret, and "eagle quills " 

 from the wings not only of eagles, but also of 

 bustards, jjelicans, albatrosses, bush turkeys 

 and even turkey buzzards. The feathers of 

 macaws are used in great numbers in the 

 feather trade, as well as hundreds of thou- 

 sands of humming birds, and other bright 

 colored birds of the tropics 



Feathers have always been one of the most 

 coveted and easily acquired of feminine adorn- 

 ments. At first they were probably taken, 

 almost wholly, from birds killed for food; but 

 later, when civilization became more complex 



