The Egret Hunters of Venezuela 



51 



one will see a long table where the plumes are being carefully sorted 

 into various grades, according to their length and condition. These 

 grades are then made up into little bundles, an inch and a half or 

 two inches in diameter, and tied at the base. In order to permit of 

 this sorting, the plumes taken from freshly killed birds are not 

 removed, as they are by Florida phimers, by the cutting away of a 

 patch of skin from which they grew, 

 but are pulled out either singly or 

 in little bunches, or sometimes they 

 are cut off close to the skin. 



Concerning the Egret farms said 

 to be established in Venezuela, the 

 only farming of the kind I saw or 

 heard of was of the same character 

 as the numerous Parrot farms I ob- 

 served ! In nearly every native 

 house one sees from one to half a 

 dozen Parrots, and it is also not 

 uncommon to see two or three 

 Egrets picketed in front of a 

 rancho ; a string two or three feet 

 long being tied around one leg 

 and attached to a stake ; while, to make escape more difficult, the 

 wings are usually cut off at the carpal joint. 



Nearly every river steamer from San Fernando carries from one 

 to a dozen of these maimed birds to Bolivar or Port-of-Spain, 

 Trinidad, to be disposed of to tourists or others, who have not an 

 opportunity to secure the birds for themselves. The soiled, worn and 

 dirty plumes from these captive birds are sometimes taken, but Egret 

 "farming" is no more of an industry than is Parrot "farming." 



Two of several small river steamers that were formerly employed 

 solely in plume hunting were owned by Americans who, to my per- 

 sonal knowledge, had gone out of the business and were employing 

 their boats as freighters, for the reason that Egrets are becoming so 

 scarce that it is no longer profitable for them to hunt them. 



[Mr. Cherrie's observations in regard to the collecting of molted plumes show on 

 what a slender basis of fact rests the assertion of milliners and others that "as Egrets' 

 plumes are now gathered from the ground, the birds no longer being killed, they may 

 be worn by the most tender-hearted woman." The truth is, that the gathering of 

 shed plumes has absolutely no bearing on the question of the destruction of Herons. The 

 hunter and his assistants pick up all the plumes they find and shoot all the birds they can, 

 the ultimate result, in any case, being extermination of the plume-bearing birds. 



The myth of the Egret "farm" is also illumined by Mr. Cherrie's article, but, like 

 many another attractive lie, it will doubtless survive all attacks make upon it. — Ed.] 



Hrnni a iiioiintcil specime 

 SNOWY HERON, OR EC.RET, IN NESTING 



PLUMAGE 



