232 



Bird - Lore 



by their shots, were hungry, and calling 

 so plaintively for frogs and fish that his 

 heart melted. 



"'I couldn't stand it, hearing those 

 hungry little birds, and I needed the money 

 awful bad. John and I went 'gator- 

 hunting, and worked a month to make a 

 day's wages of plume-hunting, but I 

 couldn't stand the little birds.' 



"This was the efifect on a boy brought 

 up to hunt and kill wild creatures, and it 

 is to fight this needless cruelty — cruelty 

 of a kind to revolt a hardened hunter — 

 that I ask your aid for a law which can 

 be opposed only by the selfish millinery 

 interests. 



"'Every 'aigrette' sold in New York 

 state means not alone the taking of a 

 useful bird life, but the starving to death 

 oj a little brood; for, every allegation to 

 the contrary notwithstanding, the aigrette 

 of commerce is obtained only by shooting 

 the parent birds at the nesting season. 

 Florida cannot stop this traffic — geo- 

 graphical conditions forbid, but yoii can 

 close the chief market to her plume 

 hunters. 



"Within my own recollection, the trees 

 on the banks of the bays and rivers of the 

 Florida peninsula were alive with birds 

 of many varieties. As night approached, 

 the air was filled with birds on their way 

 to their homes in the big rookeries. Often 

 the foliage of a key was hidden by the 

 mass of birds, and the island made to look 

 like a huge snow-drift. The small remnant 

 has retreated to the fastnesses of the Big 

 Cypress Swamp and the unexplored 

 Everglades; but even here the hunters are 

 following, and year by year the survivors 

 get fewer and fewer. The market for the 

 plumage of these beautiful, harmless 

 creatures is partly furnished by your state, 

 and it is because of this market that the 

 slaughter goes on. As a citizen of the 

 Empire State, I appeal to you to use your 

 utmost efforts for a law to stop the 'ai- 

 grette' traffic in New York." 



Contrast the above story with the item 

 following: the first urges a public improve- 

 ment, the other the selfish appropriation of 

 a valuable economic public asset. 



Interesting Items from the 'Millinery 

 Trade Review' 



" A meeting of importers and manu- 

 facturers of fancy feathers and jobbers of 

 millinery goods was held at the Broadway 

 Central Hotel, on Tuesday, June 29, to 

 consider the feasibility of organizing a 

 national association of millinery dealers 

 for their mutual protection against un- 

 warranted legislation by state or nation, 

 inimical to their interests as importers, 

 manufacturers and dealers in fancy 

 feathers and bird plumage of all kinds and 

 descriptions. 



"In calling the meeting to order, Mr. 

 Adelson said that at a previous informal 

 meeting it had been determined to send 

 out a circular letter to the principal houses 

 of the country, both wholesale and retail, 

 as a feeler, to ascertain their views re- 

 garding the forming of a national organi- 

 zation for mutual protection against the 

 efforts of certain societies and organiza- 

 tions who are introducing measures in 

 various state legislatures to prevent 

 the buying and selling of foreign plumage. 

 He said that, inasmuch as societies were 

 organized in every state and principal 

 city of the Union, and had a large follow- 

 ing, and a literary bureau to expound their 

 cause, it was necessary for the trade to 

 meet them on their own ground, and adopt 

 the same measures to enlighten the public 

 as to their method of diffusing false state- 

 ments regarding the use of bird plumage 

 in millinery. 



"The Feather Importers' Association 

 of New York, according to reports sent 

 out by the Secretary of State, paid $4,200 

 to fight the bills introduced in the last 

 legislature which they considered would 

 injure the millinery business if enacted 

 into law. These bills were introduced by 

 Assemblymen Francis and Reed and 

 Senator Piatt, and were designed to pro- 

 hibit the sale of the plumage of wild birds; 

 also aigrettes, or feathers or plumage of 

 herons. 



"A statement of legislative expenses 

 prepared under the anti-lobbying law 

 was filed with the Secretary of State for 



