THE BIRD STUDY BOOK 



of the ladies are changed: "Miss Jones looked ex- 

 tremely well in white with a whole nest of sparkling, 

 scintillating birds in her hair which it would have 

 puzzled an ornithologist to classify," and again: 

 "Mrs. Robert Smith had her gown of unreliev.ed 

 black looped up with black birds; and a winged 

 creature, so dusky that it could have been intended 

 for nothing but a Crow, reposed among the curls and 

 braids of her hair." 



Ah, those were the halcyon days of the feather 

 trade! Now and then a voice cried out at the 

 slaughter, or hands were raised at the sight of the 

 horrible shambles, but there were no laws to prevent 

 the killing nor was there any strong public sentiment 

 to demand its cessation, while on the other hand more 

 riches yet lay in store for the hunter and the mer- 

 chant. There were no laws whatever to protect 

 these birds, nor was there for a time any man of force 

 to start a crusade against the evil. 



The Story of the Egrets. — The most shameless 

 blot on the history of America's treatment of the 

 [148] 



