48 



History of the Decree. 



The actual history of the Apur decree itself is this : The 

 owners of garceros in the district, angered by the invasion of 

 their property and the killing of Egrets by plume-hunters, in 

 1909 addressed a petition to the Governor of the Apurc Section, 

 pointing out that in spite of heavy taxes levied on the owners of 

 the land, the Egrets were still being exterminated. This 

 document says : 



" It is a matter of frequent occurrence to see, in the months 

 of June, July and August, expeditions being made in canoes 

 crossing the flooded plains and killing every Egret met with. 

 The owners of estates upon which there are no garceros also 

 lease certain localities, known as comedores (feeding grounds), 

 or exploit them themselves with the sole aim of destroying 

 the species. 



" What guarantees have we for the preservation of our 

 garceros or of the Egrets that are being exterminated ? 

 None indeed. But we lay ourselves open to force unless we 

 hasten to pay the tax. 



" The Guarico legislature has considered the case of the 

 garceros to the extent of imposing heavy duties upon them 

 duties in many cases impossible to pay ; but it has done 

 nothing to save the poor Egrets from the imminent destruc- 

 tion with which they are threatened. If we continue in this 

 way the White Egret will disappear within a very small 

 number of years." 



What it proves. 



It is hard to see in what way this proves that law or custom 

 protects the Egrets of " countless miles of well-nigh trackless 

 land " from the plume-hunter. It does prove that down to 1910 

 he could not be prevented from killing the nest ing- birds, even 

 in the small portion of land under ownership and supposed to be 

 within reach of law. 



But the trade would have the public believe that the 

 Apure decree extends not only over the whole of Venezuela, 

 but that similar protection is given to the birds in Brazil, 

 Argentina and Columbia, and throughout South America. 



