ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] 
IRature IRotcs : 
XEbe Selborne Society’s flDaoa5ine. 
No. 189. SEPTEMBER, 1905. Vol. XVI. 
SELBORNIANA. 
A Proto-Martyr. — Will anything reach the heart of 
the woman of fashion ? We have been putting before her 
for years the cruel death by starvation which she inflicts 
upon the fledgling birds left orphaned by her insistence 
upon her self-adornment with stolen plumes. Few women 
who wear aigrettes can now plead ignorance; but, with 
their eyes open, the cruelty continues. Now this fashion 
has cost a human life, has left a young wife a widow and 
her two little children orphans. The law has done what 
it can in Florida to protect the egrets, and in May, 1902, 
Guy Bradley was appointed by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies as warden in Monroe County. He was 
always found alert and faithful in the performance of his 
duty, willing to undergo any hardship to protect the birds, 
and proud when he could report an increase in their 
numbers. At the beginning of the year, however, he knew 
that the plume-hunters, whose nefarious traffic he did much 
to stop, had sworn to take his life ; and now the threat has 
been carried out. While making an arrest at a rookery on 
Oyster Key on July 8, Bradley was shot dead. One can 
only repeat the comment of the current issue of Bird Lore : 
“ A home broken up, children left fatherless, a woman 
widowed and sorrowing, a faithful and devoted warden, 
who was a young and sturdy man, cut off in a moment, 
for what ? That a few more plume-birds might be 
secured to adorn heartless women’s bonnets. Heretofore 
the price has been the life of the birds, now is added 
human blood.” 
