8 
MURDEROUS MILLINERY. 
On Christmas Day, 1897, The Times pub¬ 
lished a fresh protest by Mr. Hudson, sup¬ 
ported by a leading article, setting forth the 
u wholesale, wanton and hideous cruelty ” 
caused by the rage for feathers. 
A reply of the same day’s date was signed 
not, as on a previous occasion, by a “ lady 
buyer,” in direct vindication of the traffic, 
but by “a perplexed lady” who pleaded in 
defence of herself and her compeers the 
frequent assurances of “ our milliners, that 
ospreys, egrets and feathers of all kinds are 
manufactured and not the plumage of birds 
at all, and that the making of them gives 
employment to thousands of girls and 
women.” 
This is a specimen of the pretexts still 
shamelessly put forth. Flimsy and thread¬ 
bare as they all are, the American Ornitho¬ 
logical Union complain that the work of the 
Audubon Societies is seriously hindered 
thereby. Information comes from the same 
source of large quantities of Grebe-breasts 
collected in Western America, and of en¬ 
deavours made to enlist the services of fisher¬ 
men along the New England coast in collect¬ 
ing Terns. 
"The recent demand for single quills has resulted in 
the slaughter of innumerable Hawks, Owls, Eagles, 
and Pelicans, and now the demand is largely supplied 
from Turkey Vultures. These most useful birds are 
decoyed with the carcasses of dead animals, and caught 
in a barrel arranged in such a way that when a Vulture 
alights on the side he is precipitated into it. The quills 
are then pulled out and the bird allowed to run. In 
many cases so many feathers are taken that the bird is 
unable to fly and probably dies.” 
The Report from which the above statements 
are quoted testifies to the disastrous results 
of the encouragement of egret plume collect- 
