Then the cruel hunters tear off the plume-tuft from the back of each victim, as the savage does a human scalp, and move on in search of another heronry, to repeat this inhuman slaughter of the innocents.
"But this is not all--what becomes of the young birds?
They must either perish slowly of hunger, or be swallowed by the snakes that infest such places and are attracted to the nests by the clamoring of the starving orphans.

Now do you wonder that I call this beautiful Snowy Egret the Bonnet Martyr ?" "I never, never will wear any kind of bird's feathers again," said Dodo; "and when I go back to school I am going to make a guild for people who will promise not to either.

Are Ostriches killed for their feathers, Uncle Roy?
Because my best winter hat has a curly row all round the crown." "No.

Ostrich plumes are a perfectly harmless decoration, for the bird earns his own and his master's living by growing them, without losing his life.

They are the only kind of feathers that should ever be worn for ornament." "Has the Great Blue Heron pretty feathers like a Bluebird ?" asked Nat, who felt sorry for the fate of the Egrets, but did not like to show it and so tried to turn the subject.
"He is of a slate-gray color, which you might not think blue at all, and he too wears fine plumes, on his head, breast, and back.