BIRDS AND BONNETS. 
1 6 r 
eathers to flowers, those of such birds as we see at the poulterer’s ought to satisfy 
us. Nobody imagines that the tiny humming birds, goldfinches, or birds of 
paradise are killed for anything but their plumage ; and in these days of ‘ higher 
■education for women ’ — of which we hear more than we see — the better educated 
amongst us ought to set their faces against this heartless fashion, thus doing some- 
thing to remove the stigma of thoughtlessness so often attached to our sex. 
“ In the Daily News, which is always in sympathy with theSelborne Society, I 
read only the other day, that unless measures were speedily taken to stop the 
wholesale slaughter in India of the paddy birds, shiploads of which are sent to 
Europe for the use of milliners, there is serious danger of the total destruction 
of the rice crops — ‘ paddy ’ — by insects which are the natural food of these 
birds. If this happens then of course famine follows, with dreadful loss of 
life. Surely' if these things were properly understood, educated Englishwomen 
would have few doubts about the question ‘ What shall we wear in our bonnets?’ 
but would determine at any rate not to wear what might lead to such terrible 
results. Some of us may be thoughtless or blind followers of fashion, but I can- 
not believe that we should be so utterly heartless. ” 
The following is the paragraph referred to by “Joan of Arc” : — “It is the 
opinion of local authorities that nothing can save the beautiful birds of India from 
complete destruction but a prohibitive tax upon the export of their skins and 
feathers. Such is the demand for the adornment of ladies’ caps, bonnets, and 
even dresses in Europe, America and elsewhere, that the time is believed to be 
ripe for this decisive remedy if India is not to be deprived of its feathered 
songsters or the crops of the ryot left to the mercy of the insects on which they 
feed. In the Punjab, in Bengal and in Madras the harmless paddy bird, the 
oriole, the roller and the little sunbird, with wings flashing with metallic hues, 
are all being exterminated for the sake of their wings and tails, and birds’ 
feathers, closely packed, are going away from Indian ports in shiploads.” 
A letter on this subject was written to the Council of the Selborrie Society at 
its last meeting by Miss Ada Smith, Secretary of the Wimbledon Branch. 
A Bird Lover writes : “ I maintain feathers may be worn, and without the 
slaughter of the birds. I have just had a black felt hat trimmed with black 
ribbons and two wings, the colours of which are emerald green, prussian blue 
and scarlet, all natural colours and blended and softened as only nature can 
blend, and all from my ‘double-fronted amazon parrot,’ who discarded them last 
autumn when he put on his new suit. I collected the feathers and then arranged 
them, the right wing and left wing feathers in proper order, laying them over- 
lapping each other as a wing does, dropped Judson’s liquid glue between each 
quill, let them remain until quite dry with a light weight on them to keep them in 
place, and then mounted them with a thin bit of cardboard glued behind the 
quills and bound over with a bit of soft dark cloth. The milliner I look mine to 
was surprised at the beauty of the feathers and wondered where I got such 
lovely wings — very much more lovely, certainly, to my mind than some poor little 
distorted, mis-shapen goldfinches!?) she had for sale ; and there is the pleasure of 
knowing that my parrot will be able to furnish many more such wings, instead of 
being once killed and done for, besides the far deeper satisfaction 
“ ‘ Never to blend our pleasure or our pain 
With sorrow to the meanest thing that feels.’ 
“ Could not our Zoological Gardens and many bird fanciers and aviarists 
furnish quantities of moulted feathers to be thus made up, besides the hosts of 
private people who keep pet birds and could thus save their feathers? Amongst 
our poultry there are lovely feathers — guinea fowl, the fancy water fowl, Egyptian 
geese, &c. ” 
A. O. II. writes to the same effect: — “ Could not many feathers now wasted 
be utilized, without any cruelty to the original owners, by simply keeping them 
when the bird moulted ? How many persons keep rare, foreign birds, and their 
beautiful feathers are cast away with the waste seed and sand. I have a box full 
of feathers, beautiful bright greens, blues and yellow, belonging to a small parrot 
still living. I keep 1 Joseph’s’ cast-off finery, because it is too beautiful to 
destroy, but it is useless to me. I tried to dispose once of them to a milliner, 
