8 



the community to the fact that this fashion of wearing 

 feathers means the cruel slaughter of myriads of birds, and 

 that some of our finest birds are already decimated." 



There are now over thirty of these State societies in North 

 America. 



Bird Destruction in Florida. 



In 1887 a series of articles appeared in the " Auk," the organ 

 of the American Ornithologists' Union, by Mr. W. E. D. Scott, 

 a well-known ornithologist and traveller, describing the vast 

 destruction of Egrets, Spoonbill, Tantalus, Flamingo, Ibises, 

 Terns, and other birds by plume-hunters in Florida. He records 

 the shooting out of Heron and Pelican colonies, and the ravaging 

 of the whole coast of West Florida in the breeding-season, by 

 plume-hunters, who collected not only the nuptial plumes of the 

 Herons, but also breeding Plover, Owls, Terns, Sandpipers, and 

 any other small species that came in their way. 



Further indisputable evidence of the slaughter of the Florida 

 Egrets and other birds has been furnished by Mr. F. M. Chapman, 

 of the American Museum of Natural History, Mr. H. K. Job, 

 State Ornithologist for Connecticut, and other writers. They 

 describe the Heron and Egret colonies now struggling back into 

 existence by means of the strongest bird-protection laws that can 

 be made laws backed up by the presence of armed wardens to 

 guard the breeding- places. They describe also occasional raids of 

 hunters on some newly-discovered rookery, which is then swiftly 

 " shot out " before the would-be guardians can reach it. 



" The whole business of the slaughter of the white Herons 

 for their plumes for millinery purposes," writes Mr. Job 

 (" Wild Wings," p. 144), " is one that every lover of nature 

 and every person of humane feeling who understands the 

 case will regard as no less than infamous. The origin of the 

 trade is ignorance on one side and greed for money on the 

 other, and there is not one true word which can be said in its 

 defence." 



Fuller particulars of this devastation of Florida will be given 

 later (see page 54), because the case of the Egret is one especially 



