July 5, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
7 
Feather Men are Deceiving the Senate 
By T. GILBERT PEARSON, Secretary National Association Audubon Societies 
T HE finance committee, which has been work¬ 
ing on the tariff bill, has recommended to 
the United States Senate that the proviso 
which prohibits the importation of the feathers 
of wild birds for commercial purposes, shall be 
all but destroyed. Heeding the importunities of 
the hired agents of the wholesale milliners and 
feather importers who have been waxing rich 
by the slaughter of wild bird life throughout 
the world, this committee has agreed to change 
the bill as passed by the House of Representa¬ 
tives so that the feathers of those species of 
birds which are killed for food or are killed as 
pests may be imported. 
At a casual glance this may appear to be a 
perfectly fair provision, but what does it really 
mean ? 
First, it would permit the importation of 
the feathers of birds usually killed for food. 
If we make a list of the various birds legal¬ 
ly regarded as game birds in the various States 
of our country, we find that it includes all 
species and varieties of snipe, sandpipers, 
plovers, oyster catchers, grebes, loons, ducks, 
geese, brant, swan, rail, coots, gallinules, quail, 
grouse, wild turkeys, doves, pigeons, robins and 
bobolinks; also the chewink, meadow lark, and 
in Ohio a court decision has declared herons to 
be game birds. Note, however, that the pro¬ 
vision of this amendment does not refer to birds 
legally regarded as game birds, but refers to 
birds usually killed for food purposes. This 
being the case, we will have to add to the above 
list the nighthawk, roseate spoonbill, limpkin, 
sandhill crane, cormorant, white ibis, pileated 
woodpecker, flicker and others. The above cata¬ 
logue contains the names of a number of the 
most valuable forms of wild bird life in the 
United States, for many of them are among 
the most ravenous consumers of injurious in¬ 
sects and noxious weed seeds which are to be 
found on earth. If feathers of these birds can 
be imported, it will be easy to substitute the 
feathers of the same species killed in the United 
States. With the exception of a few small coun¬ 
tries in the world, where it is contrary to the 
religion of the people to kill birds, there is not 
a nation in the world which has such strong 
sentiment against the slaughter of birds or such 
restrictive measures for their protection as are 
to be found in the United States. 
To the above list of birds we must, there¬ 
fore, add the names of all the birds in all the 
countries throughout the world, which are 
usually killed for food purposes, and the re¬ 
sultant list is simply enormous. 
There is another matter to which we would 
call attention. Feathers to be of value to the 
millinery trade must, as a class, be collected 
during the season of the year when the birds 
are engaged in nesting and caring for the young, 
for it is at that season that their feathers have 
their brightest hues and are in an unworn and 
unfrayed condition. Let no one be misled with 
the idea that game birds taken during the legal 
season for hunting possess feathers which are 
to any marked extent attractive to the millinery 
trade. We know of no evidence tending to show 
that the plumage of birds killed for food pur- 
BIRD CATCHING IN MASSACHUSETTS ( 1911 ). 
Four robins, out of six, caught in one horsehair snare set by Italians. This shows how some of the birds are taken that are killed for food. 
Bird lime and nets also are used to capture birds — (After Annual Report Mass. Comm’n on Fisheries and Game.) 
