THE OSPREY. 



9 



nature at which their souls would revolt if they but organizing expeditions to explore the coasts and in- 

 knew the sickening facts in the case. These facts it land marshes from our southern boundaries tn the 

 is the object of this article to briefly state. Argentine Republic. 



Aigrette plumes constitute the wedding-dress of the To prevent the killing of birds throughout this great 



several species of White Herons, or Egrets, and are region is obviously impossible, and laws which alone 

 worn only during the nesting season. The birds are prohibit their destruction are valueless. Until, there- 

 exceedingly sociable in disposition, and, when breed- fore, laws are passed forbidding the wearing of 

 ing, gather in colonies, or rookeries, often containing aigrettes, the salvation of the Heron rests solely in 

 hundreds of pairs. woman's hands. 



The plume-hunter, hav- 

 ing discovered a rookery by 

 watching the birds as they 

 fly to and from the nests. 

 surveys the ground, learns 

 the lines of flight followed 

 by the birds, and the 

 perches or look-out stations 

 they usually frequent when 

 returning to their homes 

 Armed, preferably with a 

 small rifle, he then secretes 

 himself in a favorable posi- 

 tion. The birds now have 

 families to provide for, and 

 are active throughout the 

 day. As they return with 

 food for their young they 

 rest a moment on the look- 

 out perch, offering an ex- 

 cellent mark to the hunter 

 concealed below. The bird 

 falls, the slight report of 

 the rifle does not alarm 

 others that soon follow, 

 and within a few days most 

 of the parent birds have 

 been killed, while the nest 

 lings, lacking their care, 

 die of starvation. 



The method is simple, — 

 any boy with a gun can be- 

 comea plume-hunter, — but 

 so effective that at the pres- 

 ent rate of destruction the 

 Herons will soon succumb 

 to it. A Florida plume- 

 hunter once told the writer 

 that, with two or three as- 

 sistants, he had killed 300 

 Egrets in one afternoon ; an- 

 other boasted that he and 

 his party had killed 130,000 

 birds (mostly plume-birds, ) 

 during one season. 



Having practically exterminated the Egrets in Flor- Can any humane woman, knowing these facts, wear 

 ida, plume-hunters have turned their attention to in her bonnets plumes, which are an undeniable evi- 

 other parts of the bird's range : advertising in local dence of her approval of merciless slaughter and in- 

 papers, offering large prices to native hunters, and describable suffering '. 



I-'iG. 2. Plumes of the White Heron, or Egret, (Anlea cgr.-ttu.) attached to the .skin from 

 wliich they grow, as taken from the back of the bird by the plume-hunter. 



