May 1, 1909 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. © 
Al 
Royal Society 
for the Protection of ‘Birds. 
British President, Her Grace the Duchess of Portland 
| — AUSTRALIAN BRANCH.— 
PRESIDENT—LADY BONYTHON. 
VICE-PRESIDENTS—Riaur Honourasusr SIRS. J. WAY, . 
Barr. anp Mrs, JOHN PLAYFORD. 
HON, SECRETARY-——MIsS S WARE, 
Murderous Millinery. 
Being passionately fond of studying the 
Works of nature. and having heard that 
Some of God’s most -beautiful creatures 
Were threatened with extermination by 
being ruthlessly slaughtered to satisfy the 
Cravings of fashion, 1 determined to in- 
Vestigute the matter to see if there was 
any truth in what I had heard. I am 
Sorry to say that I have gathered together 
overwhelming proofs of a sad and pitiful 
Story. Space will not allow of me giving 
but few of the facts that have come under 
my notice. ‘ 
Feathers do not appear to have been 
Much used, in Europe at least, for orna 
mental purposes until about the thirteenth 
century, But at the present time, [ am 
sorry to say, uot only feathers, but whole 
skins of all kinds of birds are used to 
tickle the fancy of that fickle goddess, 
‘Fashion.’ 
This terrible waragainst the feathered 
beauties of the earth is going on with 
8reater activity than most people are 
aware. If it continues, it means absolute 
Annihilation in a very few years. » 
The servants of fashion have more sins 
to answer for in their C.-operation in 
this butchery of birds, than the most 
‘Teckless of natural history collectors. 
‘On account of the apathetic manner in 
which all measures for the protection of 
irds are received, the birds are. gradually 
eing exterminated, while those who would 
Save them cry unheard in the witderness. 
Woman walk the streets bedecked withthe 
Plumes of birds, which, living, are not only 
' Peautiful and interesting in themselves, - 
ut are of incalculable value to the State 
as insect destroyers, But, because of 
vanity, the eyes are blinded..—Melbourne 
Age, : 
‘The most strenuous efforts have been 
made within recent years to spread a 
knowledge of the consequences which 
follow from the encouragement of this 
traffic, created by the demand~ (for 
feathers), Unle-s progress towards this 
end is more rapid, the extermination of 
the hapless victims is inevitable. This in 
itself would be an end much to be deplored 
but the nameless suffering and pain which 
accompanies the extinction, makes the 
passing of our beautiful birds a sad story. 
Our birds are doomed because the women 
of civilised countries continue to have the 
same craving for feather ornaments 
characteristic of savage tribes. . . . One 
of the strangest anomalies vf modern 
civilisation is the spectacle of modern 
woman, the refined and tender hearted, the 
me:ciful and compassionate, transformed 
into a creature heedlessly destructive to 
bird life, and in practice as bloodthirsty as 
the most sanguinary birds of prey.’— 
Knowledge. ; 
Remember that the law says that a 
receiver of stolen property is as bad as he 
- that stole. Wecan apply this to the 
feather business, for every woman who 
wears the plumes of birds is practically 
as bad as the murderer she employs to 
obtain them for her, 
' Jn a pamphlet from the Setbourne 
Society, an association formed for the 
noble purpose of preserving the works 
of nature from ‘wazton destruction, we 
learn that between twenty and_ thirty 
millions of birds’ skins are used yearly 
‘in England, France, and America for 
feminine ornamentation. : 
In Yorkshire (England) alone a. single 
dealer is stated to have contracted to sup- 
ply 10,000 tern skins to a London firm. 
The smartest hats in Paris are trimmed 
with whole seagulls or parrots. 
From a communication by Mr. A. J. 
North to the records of the Australian’ 
Museum, we learn that one man during 
a single season slaughtered no less than 
two hundred and fifty lyre birds. The 
birds of paradise, especially those found 
in New Guinea, are also eagerly sought 
after by plume hunters. We are told 
that the gorgeous colours and marvellous 
beauty of these birds baffle de:cription. 
They are the monopoly of the chiefs who 
obtain them at a low rate from the 
mountaineers, and sell them to the 
traders. he skull and feet are usually 
removed, and the skiu dried and wrapped 
in palm leaves. Wallace gives a vivid 
description of the time and manner in 
which these birds are taken: — 
‘ \t paicing time the birds meet in what 
the people call ‘sacaleli’ or dancing parties 
on widespreading forest trees with large 
outscattered leaves, A dozen or twenty 
fully plumed males then display their 
beauty in every variety of attitude and 
motion. The male birds raise their wings 
over the back, the long plumes raised up 
and expanded till they form two magnifi- 
cent golden fans striped with deep red at 
the base and fading off into the pale brown 
tint of the finely divided and soft waving 
points. The whoie bird is overshadowed 
by them, the crouching body, yellow head, 
and emerald-green throat forming but the 
foundation and setting of the golden*glory 
which waves above. It is at this season 
(no doubt the most pleasant time in their 
lives) that these birdsare captured, ‘he 
bird oatcher, having found a tree thus 
selected for a dancing party, builds a hut 
among the lower branches in. which to 
conceal himself, As soon as the male birds 
have begun their giaceful antics he shoots 
them one after anoth:r with blunt arrows 
for the purpose of stunning them and 
bringing them down to the ground without 
drawing blood, which would injure the 
plumes. So eager are these birds in their 
courtship that almost all the males are 
brought down before the danger is per- 
ceived.” ‘ 
Some of the feathers worn by women 
are two feet in length; the choicest speci- 
mens are composcd of innumerable breast 
feathers of humming birds, and cost as 
much as fire guineas per pair. When we 
consider the size of these mites of the 
feathered tribe. some not much larger 
than a bee, we can form some idea of the 
great slaughter going on amongst these 
beautiful creatures. A newspaper declares 
that— BS toe ; 
“At the National Horsa Show at the 
Madison Square Gardens, New York, the 
whole of the middle class spectators was 
absorbed by the dresses and hats of the 
wealthy women present. ‘The hats worn 
by the ladies were of enormous size. One 
wondered as one gazed .at ‘the illimitable 
expanse of brims and gorgeous forests of 
feathers how the wearers succeeded in 
alighting from their carriages and passing 
through the door.’ 
Some of my fair readers will no doubt 
think while reading these facts that it is 
only the rich who are cesponsible for alk 
. 
