worst result from the combined effects of shooting and egging. Too often, I am sorry to 
say, these delicate little creatures are slaughtered for the mere sake of sport, their pretty 
forms being left to rot upon the beach, to which each action of their harmless lives lent a 
further charm. The collector, even though with some excuse in the desire to obtain 
specimens for preservation and study, will feel but small delight in the possession of his 
prize, if, as once happened to myself at Salthouse, his victim’s mate, with plaintive cries, 
comes hovering round. MHeedless of danger to itself, this widowed bird called on its dead 
companion with every accent of distress and grief, and finding still no answering note, it 
gently seized its partner by the beak, and tried to bear it off. What would I not have given 
to recall that luckless shot? And oft as I remember that touching instance of animal 
affection, the thought occurs— 
““¢ Have they no feeling? Or does man pretend 
That he, alone, can make or mourn a friend ?’’ 
It is these delicate and beautiful birds which are most in request—cf course in their 
breeding plumage—to supply the “smashed birds” and groups of wings which, notwith- 
standing twenty years’ exposure of the cruelty of the practice, still, I regret to see, are more 
than ever in fashion as trimmings for ladies’ hats. It is quite time to speak out, and fix the 
blame where it is most assuredly due. After all that has been said and written, it is 
impossible for women to plead ignorance, and the only legitimate conclusion to which we 
can arrive is that they deliberately sacrifice all their finer feelings at the shrine of fashion, 
and care not what amount of suffermg and wrong is inflicted provided their vanity is 
gratified. It is impossible for a lover of these beautiful gifts of God even to enter His 
house without his susceptibilities being shocked by the display of these unholy trophies all 
around, and he wonders at the temerity of the wearers in presenting themselves even before 
their Maker branded with the evidence of the wanton destruction of these creatures, which He 
assures us share His care equally with ourselves, and this simply with a view to the indulgence 
in that passion for personal adornment which their Master condemns in such unmistakable 
terms. Has it never occurred to the “modern woman” what a debasing reversion to the 
lower level of the savage this fondness for the display of “trophies” indicates? It is argued 
that these wings and plumes are so beautiful, and this is true of everything in its right place. 
How beautiful the wing of a bird is only they can know who have studied the wonderful 
arrangement and ultimate structure of each feather; and surely such an one would not apply 
it to so base a purpose. So also is the human head beautiful; but to the writer, and I doubt 
not to many others, the sheaf of wings, or the distorted body of a bird, displayed in a woman’s 
hat is as repulsive an object as the dried human head which adorns a Dyak dwelling, or the 
scalp hanging from the wampum belt of the North American Indian. All alike are emblems 
of barbarism, however much in the one case they may be glossed over by the veneer of 
“ civilization.” 
Educational Series.—No. 1.—OWLS. No. 2.—_WOODPECKERS. No. 3.—STARLING. No. 4.— 
—SWALLOWS. No. 5.—KINGFISHER. No. 6.—OSPREY. No. 7.—DIPPERS. No. 8.—NIGHTJAR. 
No. 9.—TITMICE. No. 10.—KESTREL. No. 11.—PLOVERS. No.12.—TERNS. No. 13.—WAGTAILS. 
No. 14.—CHOUGH. No. 15.—JAY. No. 16.—SKUAS. 
Others in course of preparation. 
Copies of the above may be obtained from the Society’s Publishing Department, Knowledge Office, 
326, High Holborn, W.C., or from the Hon. Sec., Mrs. F. HE. Lemon, Hillcrest, Redhill, on the following 
terms :—Post free: three copies of any one number of the Neries, 1d.; one dozen, 3d.; 100, 1s. 6d. 
Assorted packets, one copy of any six numbers, 2d.; one copy of any twelve, or two copies of any six 
numbers, 4d.; or 50 assorted numbers, ls. Special terms for larger quantities to County Councils, the 
Constabulary, and Schools. 
The Society’s Publishing Office, Knowledge, 326, High Holborn, London, W.C. 1897. 
