12 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
“ After a day’s work the plume hunters find ground dry 
enough for a camp, where they pass the night, and at dawn 
they again glide forth on their ghastly errand. 
“‘Sometimes storm, pestilence, and famine may nearly 
exterminate a species of bird or beast, but Nature in some 
way, if she still needs the type, always manages to restore 
and undo her own mischief; but, as a lover of these birds 
has said, ‘When man comes, slaughters, and exterminates, 
Nature does not restore!’ It is only the men and women 
who have done the evil that may be allowed to undo it, 
and sometimes it is too late. 
‘““Now you see why no one should wear egret plumes, 
the feathers of the bird that has been called ‘The Bonnet 
Martyr.’ Girls and boys, whoever you may be, who hear 
or read this story of the vanishing Snowy Heron, be 
courageous, and wherever or whenever you see one of 
these regret plumes ask the wearer if she knows how it was 
obtained and tell her its story, for whether the bird who 
bore it lived in this or another country the manner of 
taking is the same. 
““There have been foolish stories told of raising these 
birds in captivity and gathering the plumes after they are 
shed. This is not true. They would, when shed naturally, 
be worn and useless, and the egret will always be what one 
of the Wise Men has called it, the ‘White Badge of Cru- 
elty.”? 
“Now, Tommy Todd,” said Gray Lady, “you may take 
down the Heron and put the other picture in its place. 
The bird in it is not graceful and beautiful like the Heron; 
in fact, it looks more like some sort of a camel than a bird, 
