Bird Notes and News 



29 



The Plumage Trade. 



BIRD NOTES FROM SOUTH AMERICA. 



I. The Truth Abotjt Egret Plumes. 



For a good many years the plumage traders 

 of Paris and Vienna and the plume exporters 

 of Venezuela have advanced handsomely 

 embroidered stories of Egret "farms" on 

 the Orinoco. Quite recently the feather 

 exporters of Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, 

 framed up elaborate representations to the 

 United States Treasury Department, intended 

 to open the way for Egret plume exports 

 to the States. Unfortunately, however, 

 for their plans, the evidence was lacking in 

 American flavour and versimilitude, and 

 the U.S.A. ports remain tightly closed. 



Meanwhile Lieut. Leo E. MiUer, a trained 

 zoological collector for the American Museum 

 of Natural History, has spent six years in 

 field work among the birds and mammals 

 of South America; and before becoming a 

 " bird man" in the U.S. Army he wrote a 

 thrillingly interesting book In the Wilds of 

 South America, which has just been published 

 by Messrs. Scribner (New York, $4.50). In 

 this Lieut. Miller records, in a matter-of-fact 

 way, certain interesting things about the 

 gathering of Egret plumes in Venezuela, 

 along the Orinoco in the region of the alleged 

 Egret "farms." For example, on page 145 : 



" The Arauca is a river of considerable size, and 

 is said to be bordered by vast marshes and swamps, 

 the home of countless Egrets and other water-birds. 

 Hunting parties ascend during the nesting-season, 

 and kill great numbers of the birds. The plumes 

 are taken to Ciudad BoUvar and disposed of to the 

 export dealers." 



On the UjDper Paraguay River, however, 

 a new abomination in Egret slaughter is thus 

 revealed by Mr. Miller (p. 222) : 



" Egrets were present in such vast numbers that 

 the trees were white with them : and when they 

 flew their twinkling wings filled the air like snow- 

 flakes. They were not molested in this locality, 

 for the reason that their habitat is impenetrable. I 

 later learned in another region that thoi.isands of 

 these birds are killed for their plumes, in a most 

 atrocious manner. About the time the Egrets' 

 feathers are at their best, wliich is also the time 

 when the nests are filled with young birds, the 

 armual floods have begun to recede, leaving small 

 lakes and marshes teeming with imprisoned fish, 

 such as we had seen en route to Bancho Palmiras. 

 This is the season of harvest for the water-birds, 

 and they repair daily to some favourite resort to 

 gorge on the luckless fish. The plume hunters, 

 taking advantage of this combination of circum- 

 stances, collect quantities of fish, poison them, 

 and then scatter them over the birds' feeding 

 grounds. Occasionally poisoned shrimps are used 

 if the inundations extend beyond the usual time. 

 This method is, of course, cheaper than shooting ; 

 the birds are not frightened away as they are by 

 the loud reports of guns, and the success of such 

 relentless persecution must be obvious. A whole 

 colony could be exterminated in its feeding grounds 

 even if the rookery is impregnable." 



W. T. HORNADAY. 



Birds in the War Area. 



Mr. J. W. Wyllie wi-ites from the 

 Prisoners of War Camp, Wendover : — 



" I am most interested in Mr. C. L. Barrett's 

 letter in the Autiunn Number of Bird Notes and 

 News on the birds of Egypt and Palestine, which 

 I compared with notes I had made on bird life 

 when at Saffi, Morocco, in 1916. The Heron 

 is not so well known there ; I only saw a few 

 when camping near the River Tensift, and these 

 were very wild. I also saw several Golden Eagles 

 and Vultures near the river. When riding in 

 the country I often came across numbers of 

 White Wagtails, Magpies, and crowds of tiny 

 brown Owls, which sat on stones, boVjbing up 

 and down as we passed. Near the sea. Gulls 

 were most plentiful, and Blue Rock Pigeons 

 numerous around the cliffs and caves. 



" One day at the old town of Eyere, on the 

 road to Mogador, I saw a number of Flamingos 

 hurrying along the wet sand. Thia place was 



originally Portuguese, and I had never before 

 seen so many Storks near a town. There must 

 have been fifty or sixty. They were walking 

 round the decayed old walls, or standing on one 

 leg on the tumble-down towers, while others were 

 flying overhead ; and all the time while we were 

 feeding with the Sheik of the town I heard the 

 weird crack of their bills. The natives never 

 harm them, as they are sacred birds ; and it is 

 splendid at each collection of rude mud huts 

 one comes upon, to see one or more of these 

 birds standing on the thatched roofs, tame, not 

 afraid of the natives. When the locusts came 

 I frequently met armies of Storks going out to 

 meet them, and have seen Gulls fighting a swarm 

 of locusts, and after battling with them for a 

 time finally turn the swarm. 



" And when the Swallows came to build under 

 the patio and fly in and out among the supporting 

 pillars I knew it was cold in England, and their 

 arrival was like a message from home." 



