This will ruffle some feathers.

You most likely can’t keep that feather you found on the trail, in an abandoned nest or from dead bird squashed in the road. Hard as it is, you must leave feathers where you found them.

While it may seem harmless to have a single feather or a collection in your possession, our history has proven otherwise and our laws prohibit it.

Start with the Lacey Act of 1900 which forbids trade in wildlife, plants and fish. Then, add the voices and legislation of Massachusetts Representative John Weeks and Connecticut Senator George McLean, who penned the Weeks-McLean Act in 1913 that disallowed spring hunting, marketing and importation of wild feathers. These laws were inspired by what was referred to as millinery murder, the over-harvesting of birds for use in the hat-making (millinery) trade.

The Weeks-McLean Act was thought to be too weak, and was replaced by the more powerful Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA). The MBTA prohibits the take (defined as killing, capturing, selling, trading and transport) of protected migratory bird species without permits. More recently in 1975, the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) extended protections worldwide.

And I would be remiss in not mentioning two Massachusetts women whose efforts led to the outrage and movement for protecting birds through laws like these. A few years ahead of the Lacey Act, in 1896, Boston-based avian advocates Harriet Hemenway and Mina Hall launched a campaign, initially of tea parties, to convince women to forgo wearing birds for fashion. They rallied bird lovers and community members to start the Massachusetts Audubon Society and fight for the protection of birds.

The bird that initially caught Harriet Hemenway’s attention, and led to her advocacy, was the Great Egret.

Great Egrets were prized for their breeding feathers and were killed during their breeding season for those plumes. The death of one female breeding bird would terminate the birth of three to four nestlings per season, therefore greatly reducing the population’s reproductive potential. An article from Cornell Ornithological Lab documents that more that 95 per cent of Great Egrets were killed in the late 19th Century during the dead bird hat craze.

There are some interesting exceptions to the aforementioned laws. Nonnative birds are exempt, so you can collect feathers of birds such as house sparrow, mute swan and European starling. Agricultural species are excluded, so you can have and use the feathers of chicken, duck or other domestic fowl. Exceptions are also made for legally hunted waterfowl, migratory gamebirds and feathers used by Native Americans. Permits can also be obtained for education use through state and federal agencies.

So, what to do when you see a wild feather? It is easy — find, photograph and release is the best way to get that proverbial feather in one’s cap. Feather your nest with pictures only and these best practices will give the birds something to preen about. Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.