Florence Merriam Bailey: Protect the Birds!

by Linda Harris Sittig

I am sitting by the back windows in our home, overlooking a grove of trees and the bird feeders attached to the deck railing. It’s bitterly cold, and the birds have been ravenous. Suddenly, a bluebird alights. His plumage is the most luminous shade of blue, and I find myself transfixed by his colors. This has been one of the perks of moving south to North Carolina, where bluebirds in winter are a daily delight.

However, years ago, especially during the Gilded Age of America (1870-1900), my friend the bluebird and countless other bird species were the victims of unregulated slaughter for their feathers.

Feathers? You may wonder. Yes, it was the beginning of the fashion trend in which women wore hats adorned with bird plumage.

How did this come to be?

THE FEATHER TRADE

In the late 1880s, store-bought women’s fashions first became available to the masses through department stores. No longer having to sew her own dresses, a woman could easily buy them in stores. But with identical outfits now available in various sizes, how would a woman stand out, so to speak, in her fashion choice? The answer: by her hat.

This conundrum helped the millinery business explode, and along the way, bird feathers became the rage. At the time, few people saw the huge injustice done to millions of birds each year and the future extinction of multiple species, all in the name of fashion.

Enter Florence Merriam Bailey, whom everyone called Merriam.

MERRIAM

Merriam was born near Utica, New York, in 1863, and, due to ill health, was educated at home. However, her family’s house was quite near the Adirondack Mountains, and from an early age, Merriam went on long walks with her brother in the nearby woods. Nature fascinated her, and most particularly the birds.

In 1882, Merriam was allowed to enter Smith, a women’s college in Massachusetts. However, she was only allowed to participate as a ‘special student’, meaning she could attend classes, but not receive a degree, since she did not possess a high school diploma. This turned out to be a boon, because as soon as the college offered science courses, Merriam signed up for any that would help her study ornithology.

The more she studied birds, the more diligent she became in their protection. Along with a friend, Fanny Hardie Eckstrom, they organized a club to observe and protect wild birds. Merriam began writing articles on the protection of birds and, at age 26, published her first book, Birds Through an Opera Glass. Today, her book is recognized as the first field guide to bird-watching intended for the general public. For Merriam, it was her first professional attempt to attract the public to watching birds in the wild.

After college, she spent several winters with her parents in New York City. Once more, she became ill, and on the family doctor’s advice, she and her mother journeyed out west for cleaner, fresher air. To her delight, not only did her health improve, but she became a diligent bird-watcher of western birds. And she continued to submit articles on bird protection. Her greatest talent was making the study of birds a pastime accessible to the general public.

MERRIAM’S CRUSADE

In 1899, she married a fellow naturalist, Vernon Bailey. The couple moved to Washington, D.C., and it was there that Merriam became involved in the conservation movement. Not just involved, she became an activist and supported the Lacey Act of 1900, which prohibited the trade of wild animals, including birds that had been killed illegally. She also taught workshops at the National Zoo.

The National Audubon Society was founded in 1905 by two female environmentalists in Massachusetts. Their goal to protect wild birds was a direct result of the widespread slaughter of waterbirds. It took four birds’ dead bodies to produce 1 ounce of plumage for a hat. The Audubon Society was a natural choice for Merriam, and she helped to co-organize several local chapters.

Merriam traveled extensively with her husband whenever his work took him to the American West, and she continued her study of birds of the western states. In 1916, the Biological Survey asked Florence to travel to New Mexico and compile a book on the birds of that state. Her Birds of New Mexico earned her the Brewster Medal from the American Ornithologists’ Union in 1931. She was the first woman to receive this award.

MERRIAM’S LEGACY

Merriam spent the rest of her life studying and writing about birds and their need for protection. She published her last book in 1939 and was the first woman elected a fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union. She died peacefully in Washington, D.C., at the age of 85.

So, the next time you glance up and see a bird perched on a branch, feasting at a feeder, or soaring through the sky, remember Merriam Bailey and her lifelong passion for protecting birds and making birdwatching an enjoyable activity for everyone.

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~ Linda

For those of you who have asked… my newest book, Chasing the Tides, is now in the hands of 12 publishers (in manuscript form). It is about two strong women, eighty years apart, who are both part of a legacy through a beachside cottage on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Stay tuned:)

In the meantime, you can find my other books in bookstores and online.

Cut From Strong Cloth, Last Curtain Call, Counting Crows, B52 DOWN, Opening Closed Doors: the Story of Josie Murray.