Here's an interesting bit of history:
Many swallows were lost to the millinery trade
The term "fashion" remains a mystery.
Note: I spent WAY too long researching this one. On the Cornell site, it says, "Although the killing of egrets is often cited for inspiring the U.S. conservation movement, it was the millinery (hat-making) trade’s impact on Barn Swallows that prompted naturalist George Bird Grinnell’s 1886 Forest & Stream editorial decrying the waste of bird life. His essay led to the founding of the first Audubon Society." This seemed a little odd to me. I googled it, and it was clear that every article that mentions this "fact" used the Cornell site as a resource.
The Cornell Birds of the World site cites the book Birds of the America, Vol 3 as their source for the Barn Swallow quote. I found Birds of the America, Vol 3 online, and it (see the link below) has pretty much the same quote referencing the Forest & Stream article.
So, I went and checked out another of my favorite sources, archive.org, which just happens to have every back issue of Forest & Stream magazine. I found a few references from 1886. The earliest editorial regarding the millinery trade (see link below) references the Sea-swallow, which I believe is now called either a Storm Petrel or Common Tern (either way, it was not a Barn Swallow). A later article mentions "...gulls, and terns, and herons, and even our swallows and native sparrows, our orioles and thrushes". That reference appears to be about what we call swallows. I also found the article that called for the creation of the Audubon Society (also linked below).
But, to summarize - the millinery trade affected many birds, but I could not find any reference that made it seem like George was really into Barn Swallows. He was just angry about the crazy number of birds that were being slaughtered for no valid reason.
Location: Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, OH
Sources: https://archive.org/details/ForeststreamXXV/page/464/mode/2up?q=swallows
https://archive.org/details/ForeststreamXXV/page/482/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/ForeststreamXXVIA/page/40/mode/2up
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Swallow/overview
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Birds_of_America/9qIqAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 (page 88)
Photo and text © 2024 Dee Fairbanks Simpson
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