Through this online resource students will learn how the popularity of birds and their feathers as fashion accessories led to the creation of conservation societies, such as the Audobon society, as well as the passage of laws intended to prevent certain species of birds from extinction due to the tastes of America's upper class. The 19th-century vogue for feathers as fashion adornments threatened many bird species with extinction, and socially prominent Bostonians began a campaign for tough new laws to preserve the nation's wildlife.