FASHION'S VICTIMS 



261 



The Black-Crowned Night-Heron 1 breeds 

 all around New York City, and every summer 

 two or three come and try to break into the great 

 Flying Cage of the New York Zoological Park. 

 As its name implies, this bird has a crown of 

 glossy black feathers, with two or three long 

 white occipital plumes. This is a southern bird, 

 but it breeds as far north as Massachusetts 

 and Illinois. Like its twin, the Yellow-Crowned 

 Night-Heron, it is half nocturnal in its habits. 

 When at night in Florida you hear a bird say 

 "Quawk!" and repeat it to you from the depths 

 of the mangroves as your boat glides by, you 

 know it is a Night-Heron. Both these species 

 have beautiful plumage, and are handsome 

 birds. Their distinguishing marks are, thick 

 bodies, and short, thick necks; short legs (for 

 herons), and two or three round, wisp-like 

 plumes from five to seven inches long growing 

 out of the top of the head, and drooping back- 

 ward. 



The Snowy Heron, or Snowy Egret, 2 when 

 fully adult, is the most beautiful white bird in all 

 the avian world. Its form is the embodiment 

 of symmetry and grace, its plumage is immacu- 

 late, and the filmy "plumes" on its head and 

 back are like spun glass. Its black legs and bill 

 merely serve to intensify the whiteness of its 

 feathers. 



But the vanity of women has been the curse 

 of the snowy egret. Its plumes are finest during 

 the breeding season, and it was then that the 

 hunters sought them, slaughtering the parent 

 birds in the rookeries by thousands (when they 

 were abundant), and leaving the nestlings to 

 die of starvation. If all women could know the 

 price in blood and suffering which is paid for 

 the accursed "aigrettes" of fashion, surely but 

 few could find any pleasure in wearing them. 3 

 It is strange that civilized women — the tender- 

 hearted, the philanthropic and compassionate — 

 should prove to be the evil genius of the world's 

 most beautiful birds. 



1 Nye-ti-eo'rax nycticorax nae'vi-us. Length, 24.50 

 inches. 



2 E-gret'ta can-di-dis' si-ma . Length, about 23 

 inches. 



3 Thanks to the efforts of the Audubon Societies, 

 the American Ornithologists' Union and the United 

 States Biological Survey, the laws of the United 

 States now prohibit the sale of aigrettes throughout 

 the United States, irrespective of the countries from 

 which thev come. 



In Florida, this bird once lived and bred, in 

 thousands, on the head waters of the St. Johns, 

 around the Everglades, and the heads of the 

 streams that run down to the sea. At the 

 first shot fired in a rookery, a white cloud 

 would arise, and old residents tell how "the 

 savannas were sometimes white " with these 

 beautiful creatures. To-day, not half enough 



LITTLE GREEN HERON. 



remain to stock our zoological gardens. The 

 slaughter has been exasperatingly complete, 

 and protection has come too late. 



In the United States the Snowy Egret ex- 

 ists now only by accident, and the "plume- 

 hunters" are pursuing this and the next species 

 in Central and South America, to their most 

 remote haunts, sometimes even at the risk of 

 their lives. Fashion, cruel and remorseless, 

 has decreed that the egrets must go! 



The American Egret, or Great White 

 Egret, 4 is, when adult, our second largest bird 



4 Her-o'di-as e-gret'ta. Length, about 40 inches. 



