Society for the Protection of Birds,—No. 20. 12th to 16th thousand. 
Illustration from the “ Royal Natural History,” by kind permission of 
Messrs. Fredk. Warne & Co.] 
THE BIRD OP PARADISE. 
THE month of May, 1895 , was the culminating 1 point of a 
^ deplorable fashion in London. Few bonnets and hats were 
to be seen without the adornment of a graceful spray of soft, fine 
plumes, with drooping or curly tips. These beautiful “ Bird of 
Paradise ” feathers could be purchased in quantities at every 
milliner’s shop, and the assurance that they were real, which there 
is little reason to doubt, could usually be elicited. Mixed in the 
same spray, and forming a contrast to these soft plumes, might be 
seen the delicate Osprey tips, which, to the shame of womanhood, 
have so long been in fashion, and, in spite of the indisputable cruelty 
involved in obtaining them, are still largely used. It can be stated 
on reliable authority that, during the season, one warehouse alone 
of the many that are engaged in the traffic so detrimental to bird 
life, disposed of no less than 60,000 dozens of these mixed sprays. 
What can be more significant of the wholesale destruction which 
this fashion involves, than the impression which is prevalent 
throughout the trade that it must soon disappear, as the supply of 
birds is almost exhausted ? 
A few words descriptive of the original owners of these plumes 
may not be out of place, as little indeed can be known of them by 
