No Egrets.

The article discusses the efforts of Boston, Massachusetts, socialites Harriet Lawrence Hemenway and Minna Hall to boycott the plume trade in the late 19th century in order to help endangered egrets. The article discusses the plume trade and how hunters killed and skinned egrets for the millinery business. The article examines the iconoclasm of Hemenway and Hall and their influence upon Boston society concerning the wearing of feathered hats. The article states that Hemenway and Hall formed the Massachusetts Audubon Society and that the U.S. Congress passed legislation known as the Lacey Act in 1900 to prohibit the transport of birds across U.S. state boundaries that had been taken in violation of state laws. The article also discusses U.S. legislation known as the Weeks-McLean Law.