VOl .'V; VI ] Report of Committee on Bird Protection. 7 1 



in their attempt to interest milliners in the work. Mrs. Robins of 

 Pennsylvania says : ' l An exhibition of millinery trimmed without 

 the use of wild birds, aigrettes, etc., was held at the Hotel Strat- 

 ford, Philadelphia, in May, in which all the leading milliners of the 

 city participated, and the attendance of visitors was very large. 

 The exhibits of the various linns were afterwards displayed in 

 their stores and advertised in their newspaper notices, which did 

 still more to draw public attention to the possibilities of ' Audu- 

 bon milliner}/ As a result many of the stores have agreed to 

 make a speciality of birdless hats, and Messrs. Gimbel Bros, have 

 established an Audubon department, besides issuing an appeal 

 for the birds in their millinery advertisements." 



Southern States, 



In the Southern States, as already stated, there is probably 

 greater need for the agitation of bird protection than anywhere 

 else in the Union. The slaughter of birds there during winter 

 cannot but counteract our best efforts for protection in the North 

 during the nesting season. Mr. Kinnison has already been 

 quoted in relation to the destruction of Egrets in Florida. He 

 adds, in reference to song birds, '-Our most welcome bird in the 

 North, the Robin, comes South to winter in droves and is killed here 

 as a game bird. It is not uncommon to see a hunter come to mar- 

 ket with them in strings of a dozen each to sell. It makes a man 

 like myself who was raised in northern Indiana sick. Every bird 

 was protected there by my father, and I have watched him when 

 plowing give a wide birth to the little Ground Sparrows' nests. 

 I can never forget these impressions of boyhood, and it hurts me 

 to see the birds slaughtered when they come to Florida simply 

 for a home during the winter." 



Mr. T. W. Talley writes from Tallahassee that there is " prac- 

 tically nothing done for the protection of birds ; each county has 

 its laws but there is rarely any enforcement of them. I feel con- 

 fident," he continues, "that much of the destruction of small, 

 beneficial species is due to guns placed in the hands of small 

 boys who learn an accomplishment of every southern gentleman 



