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competitors and soon prohibited ostrich ex- 

 portation. Before these drastic measures 

 were taken however, a sufficient number of 

 birds had been removed to other countries to 

 assure the future growth of the industry in 

 various regions of the world. It was in 1882 

 that these birds were first brought to the 

 United States for breeding purposes. Today 

 there are ostrich farms at Los Angeles, San 

 Diego and San Jose, California; Hot Springs, 

 Arkansas; Jacksonville, Florida, and a few 

 others elsewhere. 



There is money to be made in the ostrich 

 business, for the wing and tail plumes of 

 this bird are as popular today for human 

 adornment as they ever were. Even low 

 grade feathers command a good price for use 

 in the manufacture of l)oas, feather bands, 

 trimming for doll hats and other secondary 

 purposes. When the time comes for plucking 

 the feathers, the ostriches are driven one at a 

 time into a V-shaped corral just large enough 

 to admit the bird's body and the workman. 

 Here a long slender hood is slipped over his 

 head and the wildest bird instantly becomes 

 docile. Evidently he regards himself as 

 effectively hidden and secure from all the 

 terrors of earth. There is no pain whatever 



attached to the taking of ostrich feathers, for 

 they are merely clipped from the bird by 

 means of scissors. A month or two later, 

 when the stubs of the quills have become dry, 

 they are readily picked from the wings with- 

 out injury to the new feathers. 



The ostrich industry is worthy of encour- 

 agement. No woman need fear that she is 

 aiding the destruction of birds in any way 

 bj' wearing ostrich plumes. There are many 

 more of the birds in the world today than 

 there were when their domestication first be- 

 gan, and probably no wild African or Asiatic 

 ostriches are now shot or trapped for their 

 plumes. The product seen in our stores all 

 comes from strong happy birds hatched and 

 reared in captivity. Use of their feathers 

 does not entail the sacrifice of life, nor does 

 it cause the slightest suffering to the ostrich; 

 taking plumes from an ostrich is no more 

 painful to the bird than shearing is to a sheep, 

 and does not cause it half the alarm a sheep 

 often exhibits at shearing time. 



If the call for feather finery rings so loudly 

 in the hearts of women, that it must never 

 cease to be heard, it is the ostrich — the big, 

 ungainly, yet graceful ostrich — which will 

 supply the high grade feathers of the future. 



A hic:kf'iiiiiK sliiu^lilcr <»f snowy In 



('(iiirlrsy <ij \<ili(ni(il Association 



of Audubon Societies 



)iis (egrets) to sutisfy llic (lemiiiids of fashion and the vanity of woman 



