Description
In the 1860s a fashion took hold for adorning women’s hats with the plumage of dead birds. The craze began with British birds, such as robins, wrens, goldfinches and kingfishers, but quickly extended to more exotic species such as hummingbirds. Feathers – and later whole birds – appeared on bonnets, dresses, fans, earrings and even shoes. This led to a collapse in many bird populations and prompted the formation of the first bird protection societies in Britain and the USA.Focusing on two very different species, the egret and the ostrich, this paper considers how each was affected by the rise of ‘murderous millinery’, assessing the role of both human and animal actors. In the case of the egret, a wild bird, the species was decimated by hunters, who killed adult birds during nesting season to obtain their coveted ‘nuptial’ plumes and left their chicks to starve. This made the egret a cause célèbre of the bird protection movement.
In the case of the ostrich, the bird’s amenability to domestication allowed it to be farmed in the late nineteenth century, saving it from extinction, but rendering it vulnerable to captivity, disease, selective breeding and – most visibly – potentially painful plucking. One contemporary speculated that if only ripe feathers could be ‘plucked without cruelty…is it not likely that mistakes are often made by the pluckers…or that the greed or need of owners induces to early plucking – as in this country it leads to too early shearing of sheep?’
The paper examines the ethical issues associated with bird commodification and shows how (often fickle) consumer demand in Europe and North America affected the lives of birds in Venezuela, South Africa and Florida. It also explores the question of avian agency, asking how the biology of the egret and the ostrich shaped their treatment by humans.
Period | 27 Jun 2024 |
---|---|
Event title | Animal History Group Annual Conference: Movers and Shapers |
Event type | Conference |
Degree of Recognition | National |
Keywords
- egrets, ostriches, 'murderous millinery', bird protection, conservation, animal history