THE TRADE IN FEATHERS 65 



are chosen by the birds for this purpose, j-ear after year^ 

 is an instance of that extraordinary predilection on the 

 part of many birds, to repair to the spot where they 

 themselves have been reared, for the purpose of nesting. 

 These spots are called garceros,^ and as they are generally 

 upon private lands, the owners make quite an income by 

 hiring out the privilege to kill egrets. As much as 2,000 

 pesos, equal to 1,600 dollars of United States money, 

 have been paid for this privilege on a single garcero 

 during one season. In spite of the slaughter of thousands 

 of these birds, the garceros continue to be used by the 

 egrets, but in ever diminishing numbers. The beauty of 

 a few feathers on their backs will be the cause of their 

 extinction. The love of adornment common to most 

 animals is the source of their troubles. The graceful 

 plumes which they doubtless admire in each other have 

 appealed to the vanity of the most destructive of all 

 animals. They are doomed, because the women of 

 civilised countries continue to have the same fondness for 

 feathers and ornaments characteristic of savage tribes. 



Hides, which are exported in a dry state, go to the 

 American market. Of rubber, two kinds are shipped : 

 true rubber, the product of trees of the Micrandra family ; 

 and balata rubber, obtained from the genus Sapoteae, the 

 principal source of supply being Miniusops balata. The 

 true rubber, or rather indiarubber, is similar to the article 

 exported in such large quantities from Para in Brazil, 

 and like the BraziUan product it comes from considerable 

 distances in the interior. Whereas indiarubber has been 

 known to science for quite a length of time,^ and has 



' The word garcero is also used to designate the heron-hawk (Falco). 

 - Torquemada in his De la Mo-narquia Indiaim, published at Madrid 

 in 1615, says, ' There is a tree which the Indians call Ulequahuitl ; it is 



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