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FIVE hundred invitations were sent out for a novel reception by the
Wisconsin Audubon Society a while ago. One of the directors lent a large,
handsome house, and six milliners were invited to send hats unadorned with
aigrettes or birds. Ostrich plumes, quills and cock's-tails were not
disbarred. Twenty-five other milliners applied for space, "everybody" went,
and a great many tastefully trimmed hats were sold. People who had never
before heard of the Audubon Society became, through the newspaper reports
of the affair, greatly interested in its object, and the society itself
greatly encouraged through the fact that by their hats and bonnets many of
the "best" people of Milwaukee were ready to proclaim it no longer good
form to wear the plumes or bodies of wild birds.
"Certificates of heartlessness," a writer in _Our Dumb Animals_ calls them
and we know of no better appellation to apply. Women of fashion, says the
same writer, have been urged to use the power which they possess--and it is
a power greater than that of law--to bring this inhumanity to an instant
stop. The appeals for the most part were in vain. Birds continue to be
slaughtered by millions upon millions, simply for the gratification of a
silly vanity of which intelligent women should be ashamed. Whole species of
the most beautiful denizens of field and forest, woodland and shore, have
been almost or quite exterminated. Song birds have been driven further and
further from the dwellings of men; our country is stripped of one of its
least costly and most charming delights and all that women may deck
themselves in conformity with a fad.
A bill for the protection of birds was passed on March 24, by the Senate of
the United States, introduced into the House of Representatives on March
25, and referred to the Committee on Agriculture. It is entitled "An Act
for the Protection of Song Birds."
We confess, says the same writer, to a feeling of humiliation when reading
this bill, because it seems a just indictment of the women of America on a
charge of willful, wanton, reckless inhumanity. That such legislation
should be made necessary, through vanity alone, ought in our estimation, to
bring the blush of shame to every good woman's cheek.
"I didn't think," is the usual reply of the fair sex, when approached on
the subject. "I didn't think." Aye you didn't think, but that plea can no
longer avail when press and pulpit, in the name of humanity, so earnestly
and eloquently plead with you to spare the birds.
If compassion for the little creature whose life went out in agony, to
supply that ornament above your brow does not move you to abstain from
wearing such in the future, then the knowledge that some of the "best"
people in the country consider it "bad form," perhaps will.
--E. K. M.
The lady has surely a beautiful face,
She has surely a queenly air;
The bonnet had flowers and ribbon and lace;
But the bird has added the crowning grace--
It is really a charming affair.
Is the love of a bonnet supreme over all,
In a lady so faultlessly fair?
The Father takes heed when the Sparrows fall,
He hears when the starving nestlings call--
Can a tender woman _not care_?
--SUSAN E. GAMMONS, _Our Dumb Animals_.
[Illustration: EGGS.]
1. Cat Bird.
2. Robin.
3. Chickadee.
4. Long-billed Marsh Wren.
5. Brown Thrasher.
6. Yellow Warbler.
7. Red-eyed Vireo.
8. Loggerhead Shrike.
9. Cedar Waxwing.
10. Cliff Swallow.
11. Martin.
12. Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
13. Scarlet Tanager.
14. Towhee.
15. Song Sparrow.
16. Chipping Sparrow.
17. Vesper Sparrow.
18. Great-tailed Grackle.
19. Bronzed Grackle.
20. Baltimore Oriole.
21. Orchard Oriole.
22. Meadow Lark.
23. Red-winged Blackbird.
24. Blue Jay.
25. Prairie Horned Lark.
26. Wood Pewee.
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