THE BIRD STUDY BOOK 



in the world to-day than there were when their do- 

 mestication first began, and probably no wild African 

 or Asiatic Ostriches are now shot or trapped for their 

 plumes. The product seen in our stores all comes 

 from strong, happy birds hatched and reared in 

 captivity. Use of their feathers does not entail the 

 sacrifice of life, nor does it cause the slightest suffer- 

 ing to the Ostrich; taking plumes from an Ostrich 

 being no more painful to the bird than shearing is to a 

 sheep and does not cause it half the alarm a sheep 

 often exhibits at shearing time. 



The call for feather finery rings so loudly in the 

 hearts of women that it will probably never cease 

 to be heard, and it is the Ostrich — the big, ungainly 

 yet graceful Ostrich — ^which must supply the demand 

 for high-grade feathers of the future. 



[i66] 



