PLUME HUNTERS AT WORK 193 



visited the herony of Horse Hummock found the 

 old gum, and climbed among its branches ; but the 

 scene had changed. Not a Heron was visible. 

 The call had come from northern cities for greater 

 quantities of Heron plumes for millinery. The 

 plume-hunter had discovered the colony, and a few 

 shattered nests were all that was left to tell of the 

 once populous colony. The few surviving tenants, 

 if there were any, had fled in terror to the recesses 

 of wilder swamps. Wearily I descended from the 

 tree, to find among the leaves and mould the 

 crumbling bones of the slaughtered birds. 



" A few miles north of Waldo, in the flat pine 

 region, our party came one day upon a little 

 swamp where we had been told that Herons bred 

 in numbers. Upon approaching the place the 

 screaming of young birds reached our ears. The 

 cause of this soon became apparent by the buzzing 

 of green flies and the heaps of dead Herons 

 festering in the sun, with the back of each bird 

 raw and bleeding. The smouldering embers of a 

 camp-fire bore witness of the recent presence of 

 the plume-hunter. Under a bunch of grass a dead 

 Heron was discovered, from whose back the plumes 

 had been torn. The ground was still moist with 

 its blood, showing that death had not long before 

 taken place. The dirt had been beaten smooth 



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