66 
B Y THE WA YSIDE 
educative value of which becomes more 
and more evident as time goes on. 
In 1886 two nature papers, Science and 
Forest and Stream, began an active educa¬ 
tional campaign, Hooding the country 
with leaHets. For the first time we 
learned how dependent we are upon birds. 
Not as a matter of sentiment, but from a 
standpoint of hard cash, government ex¬ 
perts announced that the insect-eating 
birds saved the country hundreds of mil¬ 
lions of dollars every year, and that to 
destroy them meant grave financial peril. 
It was made known that the rage for 
plumes had increased until the milliners 
were sweeping the country bare not only 
of Swallows, but of Robins, Thrushes, 
Bluebirds. Orioles, Tanagers, Humming- 
Birds, and of every creature that had 
wings, and women were appealed to, lor 
in their hands lay the power to stop the 
traffic. Now was formed the first Audu¬ 
bon Society, an organization which had 
no membership dues, which covered the 
whole country, and which was carried on 
bv Forest and Stream. It had the hearty 
commendation of the best people in the 
land and its membership reached 38,000 
but after two years the magazine could 
no longer afford to* carry on the work. 
Women, whose superficial interest had 
been aroused, fell back into barbarism and 
their last state was worse than their first. 
Arguments, appeals to reason and ap¬ 
peals to humanity were vain,—fashion 
decreed feathers and birds were displayed 
in everv conceivable shape, upon hats 
and bonnets. It was a bitter time. 
Every gathering showed the same sick¬ 
ening display. Scarcely a hat was to be 
seen that did not bear some part of a wild 
bird, and everywhere, even in the 
churches, waved the exquisite plumes of 
the white Egret,—plumes that had been 
torn from the living birds with almost 
unimaginable cruelty. What were these 
women made of? For they could no 
longer plead ignorance, they knew the 
whole sad story, but they all felt like the 
pretty girl who said to one with a co¬ 
quettish laugh,“Oh I cannot allow my 
conscience to interfere with my best hat.” 
This sorrowful season lasted for seven 
years. In 1896 Massachusetts formed 
the first State Audubon Society. That 
the time was ripe, at last, was shown by 
the fact that Pennsvl vania, New York, 
Colorado, New Hampshire and Maine 
followed the example of Massachusetts 
before the birthday of the Wisconsin So¬ 
ciety on April 19, 1897. Now, too. came 
the conviction that legal restraint was 
necessary, and in 1900 a model law was 
formed and was passed in several states. 
Note how contagious is an idea. In 
eight years thirty-seven states have 
passed the model law, and thirty-nine 
have Audubon Societies. The law is 
also in force in the District of Columbia, 
in Alaska,and in the Northwestern prov¬ 
inces of British America. 
The next great step was accomplished 
in 1903. Up to that time the milliners 
hap been the open enemies of the Audu¬ 
bon Societies, but now the growing feel¬ 
ing that women could not, with self- 
respect, wear wild bird feathers, had 
affected their trade to such an extent 
that the Milliners’ Association (which 
unfortunately, does not include all the 
milliners) offered to give up, for three 
years, the use of native birds, if, in return, 
the National Association of Audubon 
Societies, wdiich had recently been 
formed, would promise not to interfere 
with the destruction of foreign birds. 
This was yielded, and the result was at 
once visible in the wide use of the Merle, 
the Impevan Pheasant, Parrots, Para¬ 
keets, and Birds-of- Paradise. It w r as 
hard on foreign lands, but it gave time 
in this conntrv to get the laws into good 
condition, while our own birds, with one 
exception, were comparatively safe. I 
say with one exception, for the unfortu¬ 
nate Egret had its home in the South, 
wdiere, at that time, the whole movement 
was regarded as fanatical. The Southern 
states had no protective laws. Doves. 
Meadow-larks, Robins, and even smaller 
birds wmre sold by hundreds in their 
markets under the name of ‘‘toasters.’’ 
Some wholesale milliners, outside the 
Association, made a specialty of adver¬ 
tising and selling Egret plumes, and as 
these had become scarce and high-priced, 
there was great temptation to the skilful 
gunner. Florida, in particular, was a 
