Plume hunting

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Plume hunting is the hunting of wild birds to harvest their feathers, especially the more decorative plumes which were sold for use as ornamentation, particularly in hat-making (millinery). The movement against the plume trade in the United Kingdom was led by Etta Lemon, Eliza Phillips, Emily Williamson, and other women and led to the establishment of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The feather trade was at its height in the late 19th and was brought to an end in the early 20th century.

By the late 19th century, plume hunters had nearly wiped out the snowy egret population of the United States. Flamingoes, roseate spoonbills, great egrets, blue herons, and peafowl have also been targeted by plume hunters. The Empress of Germany's bird of paradise was also a popular target of plume hunters.

In Hawaii, Kāhili are feather standards worn by the chiefly class. Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) did not hunt and kill the birds. Native American war bonnets and various feather headdresses also feature feathers.

Hunt for plumes

At the turn of the 20th century, thousands of birds were being killed in order to provide feathers to decorate women's hats. The fashion craze, which began in the 1870s, became so widespread that by 1886 birds were being killed for the millinery trade at a rate of five million a year; many species faced extinction as a result.^[2] In Florida, plume birds were first driven away from the most populated areas in the northern part of the state, and forced to nest further south. Rookeries concentrated in and around the Everglades area, which had abundant food and seasonal dry periods, ideal for nesting birds. By the late 1880s, there were no longer any large numbers of plume birds within reach of Florida's most settled cities.^[3]

The most popular plumes came from various species of egret, known as "little snowies" for their snowy-white feathers; even more prized were the "nuptial plumes", grown during the mating season and displayed by birds during courtship.^[4] So-called "osprey" plumes, actually egret plumes, were used as part of British army uniforms until they were discontinued in 1889.^[5] Poachers often entered the densely populated rookeries, where they would shoot and then pluck the roosting birds clean, leaving their carcasses to rot. Unprotected eggs became easy prey for predators, as were newly hatched birds, who also starved or died from exposure. One ex-poacher would later write of the practice, "The heads and necks of the young birds were hanging out of the nests by the hundreds. I am done with bird hunting forever!"^[6]

Egrets, including the great egret, were decimated in the past by plume hunters, but numbers recovered when given protection in the 20th century.^[7]

In 1886, 5 million birds were estimated to be killed for their feathers.^[8] They were shot usually in the spring when their feathers were colored for mating and nesting. The plumes, or aigrettes, as they were called in the millinery business, sold for $32 an ounce in 1915 — which was also the price of gold then.^[9] Millinery was a $17 million a year industry^[10] that motivated plume harvesters to lie in wait at the nests of egrets and other birds during the nesting season, shoot the parents with small-bore rifles, and leave the chicks to starve.^[9] Plumes from Everglades water birds could be found in Havana, New York City, London, and Paris. Hunters could collect plumes from a hundred birds on a good day.^[11]

Nomenclature

According to Gilbert Pearson, there was "a special trade name for the feathers of almost every kind of bird known in the millinery business."^[12]

• Black cock feathers, coque
• Snowy egret feathers, cross aigrettes
• Feathers of eagles, bustards, albatrosses, bush turkeys, turkey buzzards, eagle quills
• Crowned pigeon feathers, goura
• Manchurian eared pheasant feathers, numidie
• Marabou stork feathers, maribou
• New Guinea
  paradise birds
  , paradise plumes

Guy Bradley

In 1885, 15-year-old Guy Bradley and his older brother Louis served as scouts for noted French plume hunter Jean Chevalier on his trip to the Everglades.^[13] Accompanied by their friend Charlie Pierce, the men set sail on Pierce's craft, the Bonton, ending their journey in Key West. At the time, plume feathers—selling for more than $20 an ounce ($501 in 2011)—were reportedly more valuable per weight than gold.^[14] On their expedition, which lasted several weeks, the young men and Chevalier's party killed 1,397 birds of 36 species.^[15] Bradley eventually became a warden protecting birds from the plume hunting trade.

Conservation

In Florida, in an effort to control plume hunting, the

Such public concern, combined with the conservation-minded President

As he hoped, the birds returned to Avery Island in the spring, bringing with them even more snowy egrets. This pattern continued until, by 1911, the refuge served as the summer nesting ground for an estimated 100,000 egrets.^[17]

Because of its early founding and example to others,