Plume hunting is the hunting of wild birds to harvest their
feathers, especially the more decorative
plumes which were sold for use as ornamentation, such as
aigrettes in
millinery. The movement against the
plume trade in the United Kingdom was pioneered by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The plume trade was at its height in the late 19th and was brought to an end in the early 20th century.