PROTECT THE BIRDS. 71 



AN APPEAL TO THE WOMEN OF THE COUNTRY ON 

 BEHALF OF THE BIRDS. 



The relation of the women of the country to the present lamentable destruction 

 of bird- life has been several times alluded to in the foregoing pages; but the matter 

 is so important, it demands more formal notice in the present connection. The 

 destruction of millions of birds annually results from the present fashion of wear- 

 ing birds on hats and bonnets. The women who wear them, and give countenance 

 to the fashion, have doubtless done so thoughtlessly, as regards the serious destruc- 

 tion of bird-life thereby entailed, and without any appreciation of its extent or its 

 results, considered from a practical standpoint. Until recently, very rarely has at- 

 tention been called to the matter, or the facts in the case been adequately set forth. 

 They have therefore sinned for the most part unwittingly, and are thus not seriously 

 chargeable with blame. But the case is now different, and ignorance can no longer 

 be urged in palliation of a barbarous fashion. Obviously it is only necessary to call 

 the attention of intelligent women to the subject, as now presented, to enlist their 

 sympathies and their efforts in suppression of the milliner's traffic in bird skins. 

 As a recent writer (Mr. E. P. Bicknell, Secretary of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union Committee on Bird Protection) in the Evening Post of this city, has not only 

 forcibly appealed to the women in behalf of the birds, but suggested to them certain 

 desirable lines of action, this brief reference to the subject may well be concluded 

 with a few pertinent extracts from the article in question. 



"So long as demand continues, the supply will come. Law of itself can be of little, perhaps of no 

 ultimate, avail. It may give check; but this tide of destruction it is powerless to stay. The demand 

 will be met; the offenders will find it worth while to dare the law. One thing only will stop this 

 cruelty the disapprobation of fashion. It is our women who hold this great power. Let our women 

 say the word, and hundreds of thousands of bird-lives every year will be preserved. And until woman 

 does use her influence, it is vain to hope that this nameless sacrifice will cease until it has worked out 

 its own end, and the birds are gone. . . . It is earnestly hoped that the ladies of this city can be led 

 to see this matter in its true light, and to take some pronounced stand in behalf of the birds, and against 

 the prevailing fashions. 



" It is known that even now birds are not worn by some, on grounds of humanity. Yet little is to be 

 expected from individuals challenging the fashion concert of action is needed. The sentiment of 

 humanity once widely aroused, the birds are safe. Surely those who unthinkingly have been the sus- 

 taining cause of a great cruelty will not refuse their influence in abating it, now that they are awak- 

 ened to the truth. Already word comes from London that women are taking up the work there. Can 

 we do less? It needs only united action, sustained by resolution and sincerity of purpose, to crush a 

 painful wrong truly a barbarism and to achieve a humane work so far-reaching in its effects as to 

 outsweep the span of our own generation, and promise a blessing to those who will come after." 



There are already in England, it may be added, two societies organized expressly 

 in aid of the preservation of birds "in Great Britain and all other parts of the world." 

 The Selborne society, originated by George Arthur Musgrave, of London, appeals to 

 Englishwomen "to forswear the present fashion of wearing foreign or English bird 

 skins. Our countrywomen are asked to inaugurate a return to a mode which, though 

 half forgotten now, is assuredly more becoming to the wearer than trophies of robins 

 and sandpipers." Lady Mount Temple is not only a member of the plumage section 

 of the Selborne society, but has written a vigorous protest against the fashion of 

 wearing dead birds on dresses, bonnets, and hats. The section is under the patron- 

 age of her Royal Highness the Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, and num- 

 bers among its membership twenty ladies of title, and also Lord Tennyson, Robert 

 Browning, Sir Frederick Leighton, and Rev. F. O. Morris. 



