Reports of Field Agents 



293 



Unlil a few vears ago, the While Kgret {Herodi.is egrelbn \\a-> ijuite ahuiidanl 

 about Malheur lake, but after a month's searcii we saw l)ut two of ihe^e birds 

 and found no sign of their nests. In 1S98, a i)lume hunter told me lie made hun- 

 dreds of dollars ill a da\ and a ludf, sliooting White Herons on Lake Malheur. 

 He has often made as higli as S400 and S500 a day killing these birds. This 

 shows tliat While I'.grets were very plentiful on the lake. The slaughter was 

 continued, till now the !)irds are practicallv extinct. 



I HK WESTERN GREBE 



The greatest sufferer in llie West at ttie liands of the marl<et hunter. The snow-wiiile breasts of these 



birds are used for capes, muffs and other purposes. Photographed by Finley and Bohlman 



This hunter is the type of the professional plumer who is responsible for 

 the great decrease in numbers of our plumaged birds. He began hunting in the 

 early seventies; he has hunted Herons and other plumed birds in Louisiana, 

 Florida, Mexico, the West Indies, and up and down the Pacific Coast. In 1886- 

 1889 he shot on Tulare Lake in California, often making $400 and S500 a da\- 

 killing Herons. Whenever he could not make more than Si 20 by nine o'clock 

 in the morning, he said he would seek better hunting grounds. He not onl\ 

 followed the trade of the plume hunter in the summer, but for years he was 



