Enjoy Your Wading Birds Today, Because... by Rosemary Webb

Today is the anniversary of Guy Bradley's murder. Deputy Bradley was the first of three "Audubon agents" (presumed) murdered by plume hunters in the early 1900s, which is what led to the establishment of legal protections for birds in the US. Similar protections were afforded to birds in Great Britain, to combat the wholesale, world-wide slaughter of birds for their plumage, skins, wings, or stuffed bodies, which were used as adornment for Victorian and Edwardian women. The aigrettes (fancy plumes) of egrets fetched their weight in gold, or more.

By 1905, when Bradley was shot, contemporaries estimated that 95% of all wading birds in Florida had been killed.

So, rejoice today that our beautiful Snowy Egrets have made a comeback, and that our parents' grandparents' conservation efforts have preserved a great deal of our natural heritage. Let's see if we can do as well.

For more information about Guy Bradley, see his Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Bradley),

or this first of a three-part biography on YouTube:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQvBW_z-vn4

For examples of the Victorian hats under discussion:
    http://www.victoriana.com/Victorian-Hats/birdhats.htm

and what else was decorated with birds (fans adorned with dead hummingbirds! Ewwww)
    http://thevictorianist.blogspot.com/2011/09/members-shall-discourage-wanton.html

and for a fascinating but disturbing view of the millinery trade of the time from a modern perspective, here are articles from the Royal Alberta Hall (of the University of Alberta) exhibit on"Murderous Millinery":
    http://fashioningfeathers.com/murderous-millinery/