68 



Bird Notes and News 



the notorious cruelty and the thousand 

 and one lies associated with the trade in 

 " osprey " plumes, his firm would be only 

 too glad to see the traffic stamped out. 

 (2) but, on the other hand, money- 

 making must come before conscience 

 with tradesmen ; (3) and, finally, the 

 picture did not advertise (directly) the 

 firm's wares — the business " necessities " 

 — but was a purely gratuitous adver- 

 tisement of the particular article they 

 would be only too pleased to see the 

 public refrain from buying ! 



The recipient of the reply, however, 

 refused to accept this evasive slur on the 

 British tradesman, and wrote again to 

 refute the argument and to suggest a 

 conference of leading drapers and mil- 

 liners with a view to joint action in the 

 matter. 



THE HERON AND THE PLUME- 

 TRADE. 



The Society has received the following 

 letter from Mr. James Henry Rice, field- 

 agent of the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies for South Carolina : — 



" In the remarks of the Rev. E. T. Daubeny 

 on the ' Persecution of the Heron,' in the 

 winter number of ' Bird Notes and News.' 

 omission is made of what is, at least in North 

 and in South America, one of the most 

 striking features of the feeding habits of the 

 Heron. 



" My work takes me annually over the 

 range of the Egret and of the Sno\vy Heron, 

 along the South Atlantic coast of the United 

 States from North Carolina to Florida. 

 Their bill of fare is similar in the main, and 

 resembles that of the British heron as 

 described in ' Bird Notes and News.' But 

 with the coming of an insect invasion, such 

 as a flight of grasshoppers (locusts), or a 

 swarm of army-worms (heliophilce unipuntce), 

 or grass-worms {lafhygmce frvgiperdcc), herons 

 begin at once feeding on these pests. , • • 



' ' This was noted by all observers during the 

 locust plague in Kansas and adjoining States 



(1874 to 1877) ; has been repeatedly re- 

 marked in Argentina, was noted during the 

 cricket invasion of Utah (1848), when Herons 

 along with gulls stopped the outbreak. 



" Five years ago, on the plantation of 

 Mr. John Poppenheim on Cooper River, 

 some 20 miles north of Charleston, Egrets 

 devoured the army-worms on 80 acres of 

 rice in a single day. When it is remembered 

 that these worms (caterpillars) devour all 

 the grain in such a field in from 24 to 48 hours, 

 the work of the herons becomes impressive. 

 " This year (1912) I saw Herons eating 

 caterpillars (grass-worms), in a field of 

 maize, in such quantities that the outbreak 

 was checked before noon of the second day. 

 " One of the most destructive insects with 

 which farmers have to contend in the South 

 Atlantic States is the mole cricket. I have 

 kno\\Ti a half-dozen instances where out- 

 breaks of this insect were stayed by Herons. 

 " Will you permit me to draw attention 

 to another phase of this same question ? 



" We have a campaign — almost a war — 

 each year with agents of the big millinery 

 houses, who hire outlaws from coast cities 

 and set them to slaughter Herons for their 

 feathers. Prescribed penalties are not severe 

 enough ; fines are far too small, and our 

 means of carrying on the fight are altogether 

 inadequate. The number and extent of 

 refuges for the preservation of the vanishing 

 birds are miserably insufficient. South Caro- 

 lina, Georgia, and Florida on the Atlantic 

 Coast, and Louisiana at the mouth of the 

 Mississippi River, are the last refuges of the 

 Snowy Heron and the American Egret. As 

 the result of seven hard years of protection 

 both species show a slight increase in South 

 Carolina and Georgia, but they had reached 

 the verge of extinction. Even as late as 

 1890 Snowy Herons could be seen in millions 

 extending along the Cooper River for 

 40 miles above Charleston. There are about 

 1,000 birds (close estimate) in the whole 

 State now. There are about 700^ or 800 

 Egrets. 



" A resident in one of our South Carolina 

 towns told me that in London he had seen 

 women of fashion wearing aigrettes. It 

 might surely be taken for granted that 

 few ladies of rank or position would be guilty 

 of wearing Heron plumes if they were aware 

 that thousands of farmers in distant lands 

 had to suffer through their act loss of crops 



