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is it possible to contemplate with equanimity such a frightful form 
of death? Sheer torture, increasing as each hour rolls by, and then the 
end ! An American ornithologist of no mean standing has described 
how the Florida heronries were totally destroyed b^ 7 the plume hunters. 
He found a pile of decaying birds, upwards of 200, and his commentary 
was to the effect that he had never known a more horrible and brutal 
exhibition. But I have no desire to labour the question. Both sexes 
of the egrets—there are more than one species—bear 
the coveted plumes, alas ! and whereas fifty years ago 
the various white egrets were to be seen near the lagoons in Florida in 
thousands and tens of thousands—I believe that I might almost have 
written millions—comparatively recently a visitor to the same lagoons, 
who had a keen eye for birds, met with three solitarv white herons only ! 
Too effectually had an outrageous trade accomplished its fell purpose. 
Humming birds, likewise, as well as many other kinds, are bar¬ 
barously killed to gratify the thoughtless vanity of women. Is there 
no emancipation for these slaves of Parisian milliners ? Let women only 
realise that scores of egrets are required to produce an ounce of the 
greatly coveted feathers, and that the most revolting practices are 
resorted to for the purpose of obtaining them, and a prodigious stride, 
surely, will have been taken towards the suppression of a trade that 
from beginning to end is simply dreadful to contemplate', and without 
the shadow of a shade of a, redeeming feature. What stands for ornamenta¬ 
tion is, of course, a matter of opinion, but, according to my views, a woman’s 
hat is never so ill-adorned as when allied with the wings or feathers of 
some inoffensive bird. I conclude by hoping that, with the dawn of 
the new century, a more beneficent era for birds is at hand. It is given 
to all, without distinction of sex, to demonstrate by precept and example 
how worthy an object is the protection and preservation of birds—how 
ignoble and sinful their wanton destruction. 
