Protection of North American Birds. 169 



ners, of tHe stock in hand, also give some suggestions of the 

 extent of the traffic in wings and bird-skins ; it being not 

 uncommon to see thousands of wings(plain or fancy, in na- 

 tural colo?-s or dyed), as well as thousands of bird-skins 

 (mounted or made up) and thousands of plumes (dyed or 

 plain), advertised by a single dealer, while the dealers them- 

 selves number hundreds, if not thousands, in each of our 

 larger cities. Add to these the smaller shops, in country 

 and city, throughout the land, and we get at least some com- 

 prehension of the extent of the traffic in birds by the mil- 

 liners, and the support they receive from the ladies of our 

 population. 



" Take up any daily or fashion paper, and one can see such 

 items as the following, clipped from a New York newspa- 

 per of recent date : ' [Miss- ] looked extremely well 



in white, with a whole nest of sparkling, scintillating birds 

 in her hair, which it would have puzzled an ornithologist to 

 classify,' and ' [Mrs. ] had her gown of unre- 

 lieved black, looped up with blackbirds ; and a winged crea- 

 ture, so dusky that it could have been intended for nothing 

 but a crow, reposed among the curls and braids of her hair.' 

 It is said, ' Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.' 

 Perhaps, if the lady in question could have* seen the crow 

 during its lifetime perched upon and feeding on the decay- 

 ing carcass of a horse, she might have objected to the asso- 

 ciation. 



" Eespecting the traffic abroad, there were sold in one auc- 

 tion-store in London, during the four months ending April, 

 1885, 404,464 West Indian and Brazilian bird-skins, and 

 356,389 East Indian, besides thousands of Impeyan pheas- 

 ants and birds-of-paradise. On the other hand, London 

 Truth publishes an item showing the humanity of England's 

 Queen : ' I am glad to hear that the Queen contemplates 

 issuing a ukase censuring the barbarous fashion which so 

 many women have lately adopted, of wearing the bodies of 

 birds, or parts of their bodies, in bonnets and hats and on 

 dresses. Her Majesty strongly disapproves of this practice, 

 which of late has greatly increased, which is daily increas- 

 ing, and which most assuredly ought to be abolished.' As 



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