146 WILD WINGS 



ago, these beautiful and spectacular species of water-fowl 

 were to be seen nearly everywhere. In 1903 I had hard work 

 to find a few scattered colonies in the remotest and wildest 

 parts of the state, in the unsurveyed and trackless swamps 

 of its lower end, Mr. F. M. Chapman went there last season 

 and found them all practically annihilated. The same is 

 becoming true even in southern Brazil. 



When we know about the millinery plume trade, we under- 

 stand the reason. In 1903 the price for plumes offered to 

 hunters was $32 per ounce, which makes the plumes worth 

 about TWICE THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD. There will always 

 be men who would break any law for such profit. No rookery 

 of these herons can long exist, unless it be guarded by force 

 of arms day and night. 



Here are some official figures of the trade from one source 

 alone, of auctions at the London Commercial Sale Rooms 

 during 1902. There were sold 1608 packages of " ospreys," 

 that is, herons' plumes. A package is said to average in 

 weight 30 ounces. This makes a total of 48,240 ounces. As 

 it requires about four birds to make an ounce of plumes, 

 these sales meant 192,960 herons killed at their nests, and 

 from two to three times that number of young or eggs 

 destroyed. Is it, then, any wonder that these species are on 

 the verge of extinction ? 



The killing of these white herons — and others, as well — 

 is now punishable with heavy fines, and the Milliners' Asso- 

 ciation of America has pledged itself not to deal in these 

 contraband j^lumes. Yet thev reser\e the right to sell FOR- 

 EKiX plumes. Now it hajipens that these same species also 

 breed in Central and South America, and also that the 

 plumes of distinctly foreign species of white herons are so 

 exactly similar to those of our native ones that not even the 

 most expert ornithologists can tell them apart. This means 



