OENAMENTAL PLUMES 159 



he obtained from them, first food, then their skins 

 as clothing. Throughout the severe winters he 

 utilized the pelts of fur-bearing animals to keep 

 him warm. Where beasts were scarce and sea- 

 birds plentiful, he used the skins of the latter. 



This use of bird skins has continued down to the 

 present day. The Indians and Eskimos of north- 

 ern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska, the natives 

 of Nova Zembla, and the wild tribes of upper 

 Siberia slaughter the close-feathered auks, guille- 

 mots, murres, and puffins by the thousand for this 

 purpose alone. So important are the skins con- 

 sidered for clothing that a special clause has been 

 inserted in the international migratory bird treaty 

 between Canada and the United States making 

 the natives immune from the law in this respect. 

 The Indians also are inordinately fond of decorat- 

 ing themselves and their weapons with bright- 

 colored or striking-looking feathers, a habit not 

 peculiar to them alone but followed by most un- 

 civilized peoples. 



The war on birds for their ornamental plumes 

 was well under way before the dawn of civiliza- 

 tion. There can be no doubt that such an artistic 

 people as the early wall-painting Cromagnards 

 must have had a love for body adornment as well 

 as for highly pigmented pictures. These orna- 

 ments must naturally have been the gay-colored 

 feathers and plumes of birds. The later neolithic 

 men had a culture resembling that of many of our 



