Cruelty to Birds 207 



-species, chiefly because there is a demand for their 

 eggs ; or because they are themselves rare ; or, and 

 this reason is worse still, because the ladies of 

 Europe — and every female is a " lady " nowadays — 

 refuse to relinquish the fashion of wearing the plumes 

 of egrets, birds of paradise, and hundreds of other sorts 

 in their hats, whereby it is said that the males of the 

 great bird of paradise will before long be extinct. 



It is lamentable that these lovely creatures are to 

 be wiped off the face of the earth merely to gratify 

 the passing vanity of women, who, in spite of distinct 

 appeals, at least in London, still continue to encourage 

 a really cruel slaughter. The Creator has not peopled 

 the world with birds of marvellous plumage in colours 

 and designs for us to kill them down without a 

 thought for anything but our own personal adornment. 

 " For His pleasure, they are, and were created." 



Let me give a particular instance. 



The following letter was published in the Ibis of 

 January 1900, written from Foochow by Mr. C. B. 

 Rickett, and dated 25th August 1899. 



" I am sorry to say that the native ' shooting-men ' 

 have at last found out that there is a silver-mine in the 

 ' plume trade,' with the result that one of the greatest 

 ornaments of our landscapes is apparently doomed to 

 destruction. 



" It was a pretty sight in the spring to see a stretch 

 of paddy-fields with the brilliant green of the young 

 rice setting off the silvery white plumage of a number 

 of egrets, as they stalked about in search of food. 

 That, however, is now a thing of the past. Last year 



