164 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



It took millions of years to evolve and produce this splen- 

 did animal. He was especially adapted to the hard life 

 on the arid plains of the West. The cattle of the present 

 day turn their tails to the wind and drift hopelessly with 

 the course of the blizzard. The buffalo turned his head 

 to the storm and fought it out with nature, triumphing 

 over the wind and the cold for ages upon ages, finally 

 succumbing only to the breech-loader and the butcher- 

 knife of the skin-hunter of the latter end of the nineteenth 

 century. 



But you invited me especially to explain the nature and 

 scope of a bill introduced by me in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, to give national assistance to the preservation 

 of what remains of our birds and beasts. All states and 

 territories have enacted laws in accordance with the pres- 

 ent enlightened public sentiment in this direction. These 

 laws have been nullified by the pot-hunter, who kills and 

 traps the birds and beasts for food for eastern markets, or 

 who destroys the insectivorous and the song birds for the 

 milliner. It seems strange that from the beautiful hat 

 of the tender-hearted woman the mummified bird of song 

 should look appealingly, with its glass eye, to the more 

 tender heart of the American sportsman for protection. 

 Appeals to the women by the Audubon societies thus far 

 have been in vain. When on the streets I meet young 

 girls and matrons with their kindly faces, and see the 

 aigrettes in their bonnets and hats, I can not help feeling 

 that these daughters of Eve do not know how these feath- 

 ers were obtained. These plumes only grow while the 

 bird is rearing its young, and I believe if most of the 

 women who wear them knew they were obtained by shoot- 

 ing the mother on her nest they would be ashamed to keep 

 them, even in secret, much less to display them on the 

 public streets. 



The bill (H. R. 6,634) to which I direct your attention 



