on the Lesser Egret.



241



In fifty years’ time, at this rate, the Little Egrets will be

exterminated from off the face of the earth.


In some of the States of North America, plumes of these

and other birds are confiscated, whilst we in England, with all our

boasting as to kindness to animals, permit our women, encouraged

by the hat shops, to wear on their heads feathers which represent a

mine of cruelty.


When crossing from New York on board the ‘ Lusitania ’

some five years ago, I became so indignant by seeing a woman day

after day parading the decks and lounging in the saloons with a

whole skin and part of another of a Greater Paradise Bird in her

hat, that I finally spoke to her, asking her to pardon my effrontery

and explaining to her the fact that these birds, amongst others,

were being killed in hundreds and hundreds, and were becoming

more and more rare every day : “ Would she give up encouraging

such destruction, and help to persuade others ? ” I told her of how

more than one man had been murdered in the swamps of Florida,

when they were acting as guardians to the Egrets.


My remarks were received with a supercilious shrug and an

insolent smile. “ Really ” was her answer “I don’t see what all

this has to do with me, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t wear what I

choose. So callous was her spirit, so unmelting her heart, that I

replied: “ Well! Madam, I have always understood that women are

the gentler sex, and supposed to possess more tender feelings than

men ; a man is now striving, and has done so courteously, to move

your heart ; I see that it is useless, and I withdraw my apology for

having taken upon myself to address you as a stranger.”


If she could have served me, to judge by her expression, as

the Birds of Paradise in her hat had been served she would have ! !

even perhaps to wearing my scalp !


On the other hand, others to whom I have appealed have

answered courteously, with an explanation that they really did not

realize what was entailed by the wearing of ‘ aigrettes,’ etc. Why

should this abominable cruelty and destruction continue when hats

can be quite as becoming, and even more so, in these days of

delicately manufactured artificial flowers, etc. It is said that the



