End of a Prow!

Last week birds all over the world had reason to be glad that Mrs. Richard Hooper Pough came home one day in 1939 with a new hat. The hat sported an eagle feather. Husband Pough was mightily vexed. A worker for the Audubon Society, he had hoped that hard-won U. S. laws of 1900, 1918, 1930 would protect eagles and other wild birds from milliners. He soon found that when Paris couturiers feathered ladies' hats, traffic in plumage flourished again as it had 30 or 40 years ago.

Promptly Husband Pough began a systematic prowl through Manhattan's stores and warehouses. He picked up feathers of 40 species of wild birds, including the whistling swan, osprey. great blue heron. A dozen firms sold plumage of the American bald eagle, although it is protected by act of Congress. Great stocks of foreign plumage--from Siberian storks, Philippine pelicans, Argentine rheas--drifted in through customs loopholes.

With a cry like the great horned owl, Husband Pough soared into action. He wrote pamphlets, made speeches, got the law on feather merchants and milliners. Last week Manhattan feather merchants, representing 90% of the U. S. industry, agreed to file inventories of their stocks with the New York State Conservation Department, dispose of their wild bird plumage within six years or forfeit it. They will give up all eagle, heron, bird of paradise plumes at once.

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