68 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
“Please, is it any harm to wear roosters’ feathers or 
Guinea hens’ and ducks’ wings?” asked Ruth Banks. 
‘Cause I’ve got two real nice duck wings and a lovely 
spangled rooster tail— home-made ducks, you know, that 
we hatch under hens,” she added. 
“No, it is no harm to use the feathers of domestic 
fowls, or other food-birds,” said Gray Lady; “only, unless 
we have raised the fowls from which they come ourselves, 
it is not easy to be sure about the matter, unless the 
feathers are left in their natural colours. They may tell 
you in a shop that the wing or breast you see is made of 
dyed chicken or pigeon feathers. You must take their 
word that this is so, and many times they may have 
been misled in the matter themselves. 
“ Birds’ feathers, it cannot be denied, are very beautiful 
and ornamental, but to my mind it is very bad taste to 
wear anything dead merely for ornament,—furs, of 
course, keep the wearer warm as well,—but I myself do 
not care for any hat trimming that can only be had by 
taking life. 
“There is one kind of feather,—the Heron or Egret 
plume, — that I am not only sorry, but ashamed, to say is 
still in use, because it comes from birds that live in other 
countries, and these birds we cannot yet protect. Not 
only must these birds be killed to obtain the coveted 
plumes, but the killing is done in a brutal way, and at a 
time of year—the nesting season— when, according to 
the wise law of nature, every bird should be cherished 
and its privacy respected. 
“Look at this great White Heron in the picture beside 
me here. He measures two feet from the tip of his bill 
