82 OUR NATIVE BIRDS 



societies, and the press must do their duty to dispel 

 the darkness. The business of the plume hunter is a 

 particularly disgusting one, because his favorite hunt- 

 ing time is the breeding and nesting season of birds, 

 when their plumage is at its best. A Florida plume 

 hunter once told Mr. Frank M. Chapman that he had 

 killed three hundred egrets in one afternoon. This 

 meant that he had caused the death of about one 

 thousand helpless nestlings by starvation. The only 

 wrong these innocent creatures had ever committed 

 was that their parents bore a beautiful, delicate plum- 

 age which ignorant or vain women will buy regardless 

 of the brutal slaughter by which it was obtained. 1 Does 

 the word of the prophet " Have we not all one father, 

 hath not one God created us ? " only apply to human 

 kind with all its sinfulness, corruption, and depravity? 

 Should it not apply to the birds and the beasts of the 

 woods, many of which are far more faithful and useful 

 workers in the vineyard of nature than some people 

 who live in first-class hotels? 



Among the members of the Audubon society we 

 notice a few divines and clergymen, but their number 

 should be much larger. Is it not about time that our 

 churches, too, preach and practice humaneness in its 



1 Send for a leaflet entitled : " The Wearing of Herons' Plumes or 

 Aigrettes," by Frank M. Chapman. Address Miss Emma H. Lock- 

 wood, 243 West Seventy-fifth St., New York City, or Miss Mary A. 

 Mellick, Plainfield, N. J. The pamphlet is sent free to applicants. 



All ladies and girls interested in birds and in humane work should 

 read : " The Audubon Societies and their Work," by Frank M. Chap- 

 man, the Delineator, March, 1898. 



