The Audubon Societies 



73 



for Egret protection work the coming 

 year. Here are some of the things which 

 are urgently needed: 



First. A bill has already been intro- 

 duced in Congress to amend the national 

 law which prohibits the importation of 

 feathers. This, and doubtless other meas- 

 ures of similar character, must be met. 



Second. It is important to secure laws 

 for stopping the sale of feathers in many 

 states where this traffic is still permitted. 



Third. The work of locating and guard- 

 ing nesting colonies of Egrets has proved 

 so remarkably successful that we feel the 

 utmost justification in urging the con- 

 tinuance and increase of this effort. 



Fourth. The illegal sale of aigrettes at 

 Florida winter resorts and in millinery 

 stores in the North must be broken up 

 by careful detective work. 



Fifth. There is much educational work 

 yet to be done by appealing to the press 

 and supplying schools and farmers' 

 institutes with literature on the subject. 



Sixth. To hundreds of women's clubs 

 in the country speakers should be sent to 

 lecture on the needless cruelty of wearing 

 bird feathers for hat trimmings. 



If our friends could but visit the home 

 office of the National Association, and 

 here see the number of wonderful oppor- 

 tunities for effective work which come 

 flooding in, they would certainly be pro- 

 foundly impressed with the great open- 

 ings presented for useful service. We 

 have the organization, and we have the 

 experienced workers; all we need is the 

 necessary funds. The work is conducted 

 on lines of the most careful economy 

 consistent with securing good results, 

 and every dollar contributed to the 

 Association is made to reach just as far 

 as possible. 



This work of preserving the White 

 Egrets is one of the most human move- 

 ments in the interests of wild life which 

 has ever been undertaken. Will you not 

 lend it the aid of your practical support 

 and speak to your friends on the subject? 



As we go to press, the following con- 

 tributions for the Egret Protection Fund 

 for 1914 have been received: 



Balance unexpended from 1913. 



as per Annual Report $433 78 



Kuser, Mr. John Dryden. ... 20 00 



Bliss, Miss Lucy B 10 00 



Brown, Mr. T. Hassall 10 00 



Fairbanks, Miss Maria B.. . . 2 00 



Hodgman, Miss E. M 5 00 



Kempton, Miss May M i 00 



Kimball, Mrs. D. P 25 00 



Norfolk Bird Club 27 26 



Phelps, Mrs. J. W 10 00 



Tod, Mr. J. Kennedy 10 00 



$554 04 



To Amend the Plumage Law 



Many women returning from abroad 

 who have attempted to bring in aigrettes 

 or other birds' feathers on their hats have 

 been made to feel keenly the strong arm 

 of the new federal law. There have been 

 many outcries of resentment from those 

 who felt it an outrage that, in their case, 

 the law should be enforced. Law is all 

 right for other people, but there are not 

 many of us who will praise a restrictive 

 legislative measure when its enforcement 

 interferes with our own pleasure or 

 convenience. So women who have lost 

 their plumes by the watchfulness of the 

 Customs officials have had no hesitancy 

 in voicing their indignation. 



And now they have found a champion 

 in the person of Congressman E. Y. 

 Webb, of Shelby, North Carolina. He 

 declares that the ladies' wrongs shall be 

 righted. To bring this about he intro- 

 duced a bill (H.R. iioio) in Congress, on 

 December 19, 1913, to amend the new 

 plumage measure. The change which he 

 proposes is to add the following paragraph 

 to the existing law: 



"Provided further. That, in the case of 

 residents of the United States returning 

 from abroad, aigrettes, quills, heads, 

 wings, tails, skins, or parts of skins, of 

 wild birds lawfully in the United States 

 prior to October fourth, nineteen hundred 

 and thirteen, and taken by such residents 

 out of the United States to foreign coun- 

 tries subsequent to that date, shall be 

 admitted to entry, on return, upon their 

 identity being established under appro- 

 priate rules and regulations to be pre- 

 scribed by the Secretary of the Treasury." 



