42 



came about was told in the " Cornhill Magazine" (October, 1899) 

 by Mrs. Archibald Little, who recounts how a heronry was 

 destroyed at Chungking, "in the way of business," for 50 

 worth of plumes.* 



There have ako been accounts, given in anonymous letters to 

 newspapers, of square miles of country in India, " white with shed 

 feathers," " lying in sheets like snow " ; another writer avowed 

 his familiarity with the birds and the moulted plumes in Nigeria ; 

 but, unfortunately for his reputation as a naturalist, he also 

 described the plumes as growing on the " breast " of the bird. 



The Fabled Farm in Tunis. 



Another circumstantial story appeared in French and German 

 papers some years ago of an institution near Tunis, where the 

 birds were reported to be kept in a large aviary and " deplumed " 

 twice a year. Dr. Sclater, who was then Secretary of the London 

 Zoological Society, used every effort to discover the source of 

 this story, as no one knew better than he the extreme difficulty 

 of inducing the Egret to breed in any sort of captivity. None 

 could be ascertained ; but ultimately the mystery was tracked 

 down by Mr. Scherren to a brief and luckless experiment made 

 by a German banker, who, at the instigation of a French taxider- 

 mist, tried to breed Herons in North Africa."]" Whether any 

 plumes found their way to the market is not stated, but the 

 banker lost his money, and the taxidermist disappeared. 



South America is, however, the only country now cited by 

 the plume-trade in connection with the picked-up moulted 

 plume business. 



Venezuela : Consular Report. 



In the Consular report on the trade of Venezuela for 1898, 

 special attention was called to " the destruction of the birds for 

 the supply of ' aigrettes ' for ladies' hats." " This," said the 

 Consul, " is really appalling," showing that, on an average 

 computation, a million and a half birds had been killed in the 

 preceding year. This statement was widely published and 



* " Our Pet Herons." R.S.P.B. Leaflet, No. 35. 



t " Canary and Cage Bird Life," Jan. 29, 1909 ; " Wild und Hund," 

 Dec. 4, 1908. 



