Part 23
An exhibition of birdless hats--'Audubonnets' as they have been facetiously styled--was held in the parlors of the Narragansett Hotel, in Providence, on the 9th of October. The response to the invitations, which were sent by the society to the leading milliners, was very gratifying, nearly all of them entering cordially into the scheme. About one hundred and fifty hats were exhibited, and it is safe to say that such a beautiful and artistic display of millinery was never before seen in Providence. Most of the hats were especially designed for the occasion, and an endless variety of styles and trimmings was shown. The result proved conclusively that the plumage of wild birds can be easily discarded without violating the laws of fashion.
The exhibition had been well advertised and, in spite of unpleasant weather, the parlors were thronged with visitors throughout the day. Many sales were made, the proceeds going to the exhibitors.
Four ribbon prizes were awarded, but it is the opinion of the committee in charge that prizes, even of that nature, were a disadvantage.
The 'Providence News' thus comments upon the exhibition: "It was only the other day that the 'News' was moved to remark from the evidence of the fashion plates, that bird plumage was to be more than ever the fashion this season. But there is evidence that the protest against it is a mighty one, and if the birds in other communities have supporters of the number and character that they find here in Rhode Island, the milliners who oppose the sentiment of the Audubons will at no early day be compelled to reform or to go out of business."
Annie M. Grant, _Sec'y._
PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY
During the year that has followed the issuing of our second annual report the Society has spread to nearly every county in the State. The membership has grown from 3,300 to 5,000, and a steady increase of interest is shown in the letters received by the secretary.
Bird-Day was most successfully observed in a large number of schools, and both teachers and pupils seemed well pleased with the results. We owe thanks to many of our local secretaries for their good work among children, and for the classes for bird study which they formed during the summer. This is a movement of the utmost importance, as with increasing membership it becomes more and more difficult for the secretary to conduct individual correspondence, and everyone who will band together local members and act as local secretary, will further the interests of the Society more than can be done in any other way.
We would like to call the attention of our members to the following:
1. When this Society was organized the quills used in millinery were all taken from large domestic birds. Lately the Brown Pelican, Eagles, Owls, and Turkey Vulture have been made to pay tribute to the fashions; and we wish most earnestly to protest against the use of these quills. A good illustration of the feathers to be avoided will be found in the October number of Bird-Lore.
2. We would also call attention to the fact that this magazine is the official organ of the Audubon Societies, and is essential to anyone desiring to keep up with what is being done for the protection of birds.
3. As heretofore, we are dependent almost entirely upon voluntary subscriptions for carrying on the objects of the organization, and we therefore appeal again for assistance from those interested in furthering the cause of the protection of birds. Increased funds will, of course, enable us to reach a larger number of persons, and to issue a larger amount of literature, for which there is a constant demand. Donations should be forwarded to the treasurer, Mr. William L. Baily, 421 Chestnut street, Philadelphia.
For the coming year we have in view the usual course of lectures, by Mr. Stone, and also the furthering of bird study in the schools, to which end we hope to issue some educational circulars.
Julia Stockton Robins, _Sec'y._
THE WISCONSIN SOCIETY
Our busy season is in the spring of the year. At about Easter time our State Superintendent of Schools issued his 'Arbor and Bird-Day Annual,' which contained an invitation to teachers and children to join the Audubon Society. This invitation brought an almost overwhelming response, every day for several weeks bringing me ten or fifteen letters from would-be branches, and our school membership mounted rapidly to over 10,000. A prize offered to these children for the best personal observation on a Bird Family was won by a little country girl, who wrote a very good composition on the Ground Sparrow. We have tried, with varying degrees of success, in different places, to institute the work of the 'Bird Restorers' among these children.
We shall soon have a little library of bird books circulating among the schools, and we are trying to raise money for a set of lantern slides to accompany a lecture--lecture and slides to be sent from place to place.
I believe that the Audubon work has already made a deep impression in Wisconsin. The milliners' windows abound in Gulls and Birds of Paradise, but they are not finding a ready sale. As to wings, perhaps it is too much to expect that women will not believe their milliners when told that "These wings are all right, because they are made."
E. G. Peckham, _Sec'y._
The Passing of the Tern
The surprising results which may follow Fashion's demand for a certain kind of bird have never been more clearly shown than in the case of the Terns or Sea Swallows of our Atlantic coasts.
Useless for food, the birds had escaped the demands of the hunter, and thousands nested in security along our beaches. The exquisite purity of their plumage and their unsurpassed gracefulness on the wing made them a particularly grateful element of the coast scenery to every lover of the beautiful, while to the prosaic fisherman they often gave welcome evidence of the direction of the land, as with unerring flight they returned through the densest fogs, bearing food to their young.
Suddenly, as a result of causes too mysterious for the mind of man to comprehend, Fashion claimed the Terns for her own.
Up and down the coast word went forth, that Sea Swallows, or 'Summer Gulls,' were worth ten cents each, and the milliner's agent was there to confirm the report.
It was in June when the baymen were idle and, unrestrained by law, they hastened to the beaches in keen competition to destroy the birds which were nesting there.
Never, in this country, at least, has there been such a slaughter of birds. A Cobb's Island, Virginia, bayman, whose conscience, even at this late date, urged him to a confession of shame for his part in the proceedings, told me recently that in a single day of that memorable season, 1,400 Terns were killed on Cobb's Island alone, and 40,000 are said to have been there shot during the summer. The destruction at other favorable places was proportionately great.
Two seasons of this work were sufficient to sweep the Terns from all their more accessible resorts, the only survivors being residents of a few uninhabited islands. Even here they would have succumbed had not bird-lovers raised a sum to pay keepers to protect them.
Then Fashion, as if content with the destruction she had wrought, found fresh victims, and the Terns, for a time, escaped persecution. Now, however, the demand for them has been revived, and again the milliners' agent is abroad placing a price on the comparatively few birds remaining. Before me is a circular issued by a New York feather dealer, asking for "large quantities" of "Sea Gulls, Wilson's Turns (_sic_), Laughing Gulls, Royal Gulls," etc., and this is only one instance among hundreds. In fact, the feather merchants themselves state that the demand for Terns and Gulls exceeds the supply.[J]
[Footnote J: See also note from 'Brooklyn Eagle' on page 198.]
What will be the result? Is there no appeal from Fashion's decree? Woman alone can answer these questions, and the case is so clear she cannot shirk the responsibility of replying.
Aigrettes are decorative, quills difficult to identify, neither bespeak death, and ignorance may lead the most humane woman into wearing either. But with the Tern no such excuse exists, and the woman who places its always disgustingly mutilated body on her bonnet, does so in deliberate defiance of the laws of humanity and good taste.
Frank M. Chapman.
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