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acres were so covered with White Ibis that c it looked from a 

 distance as if a big white sheet had been thrown over the 

 mangroves.' Sailing to-day over forty miles, I did not see 

 a place that was occupied by even a few birds. Postmaster 

 and others all agreed that for the past two years birds had 

 been so persecuted to get their ' plumes ' for the northern 

 market, that they were practically exterminated. Birds 

 were killed, plumes taken from the back, head, and breast, 

 and carcase thrown to ' Buzzards ' (i.e. Vultures)." 



" 8th May. Macleod Island, great breeding-place of Red- 

 dish Egret. ' Found a huge pile of half-decayed birds, lying on 

 the ground, which had been killed a day or two. All of them 

 had the ' plumes ' taken, with a patch of skin from the back, 

 and some had the wings cut off. I counted over 200 birds 

 so treated. Within the last few days it had been almost 

 destroyed, hundreds of old birds having been killed, and 

 thousands of eggs broken. I do not know of a more horrible 

 and brutal exhibition than that which I witnessed here. . . " 



" 12th May. "We found in camp Mr. Frank Johnson, who 

 is a professional ' bird-plumer.' Snowy Heron, American Egret, 

 and Reddish Egret brought the highest prices, but he killed 

 almost anything that wore feathers. He said he wished there 

 was some law to protect the birds, at least during the breed- 

 ing-time, but added that as everybody else was ' pluming ' he 

 had made up his mind that he might have his share. He was 

 killing birds and making plumes now for Mr. J. H. Batty, of 

 New York City, who employed many men along the entire 

 Gulf Coast from Cedar Keys to Key West, particularly for 

 Herons, Spoonbills, and showy birds. He told me of the 

 enormous breeding places that had formerly been the homes 

 of the birds of this region. Now most of them were entirely 

 deserted, and the number still resorted to yearly becoming 

 smaller. c It was easy to find thousands of birds five or 

 six years back, where absolutely none now existed.' My own 

 observation leads me to agree with this statement, but in 

 fact the destruction must have been greater than can be realized." 

 " 27th May. Mr. Frank Higel told me the same story of 

 extermination I had already heard so many times two large 



