FEATHERED ARTISTS 15 



war upon our unresisting fellow-mortals of the 

 air. 



Unprincipled hunters kill them from an vm- 

 bridled madness for gain, and to satisfy the insane 

 vanity of worldly women, who wish to make up 

 for their lack of charm and beauty by wearing the 

 plumage of these delicate-winged artists of the air. 

 For those who are so unfeeling as to eat the flesh of 

 song-birds, like the red-bird, the bobolink, the 

 mocking-bird, the robin, and the wild wood-doves, 

 there is nothing to be said. They are beyond 

 reach 1 They nourish the body at the expense of 

 the soul I 



The human love of ornament is responsible for 

 the death and destruction of more beautiful birds 

 than all other causes combined. Only a few years 

 ago many women tried to make up for their natm-al 

 homeliness by wearing not only the feathers of at- 

 tractive birds, but the dead bodies as welll Those 

 heartless women who continue to adorn themselves 

 with feathers and birds are responsible for the per- 

 petuation of the most unthinkable barbarities. The 

 humane Queen Victoria did much to abolish this 

 heathenish custom in England. She was devoted 

 to all nature's creatures, and set a good example 

 by refusing to wear even feathers. 



"Open your eyes to the evidence," says Michelet. 



