57 



From "Wild Wings," by H. K. Job, member of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union, State Ornithologist of Connecticut 



(Constable & Co., 1905): 



" What a spectacle ; the dark-green mangrove foliage 

 dotted with Ibises of dazzling whiteness, " Pink Curlews " 

 (the local name for the Roseate Spoonbill), and blue-tinted 

 Herons. Where ever I may penetrate in future wanderings, 

 I can never hope to see anything to surpass, or in some 

 respects to equal, that upon which I now gazed. Years ago 

 such sights could be found all over Florida and other Southern 

 States. This is the last pitiful remnant of hosts of innocent 

 exquisite creatures slaughtered for a brutal, senseless, yes, 

 criminal millinery folly. . . Such inaccessible tangles of 

 southern Florida are the last places of refuge, the last ditch 

 in the struggle for existence to which these splendid species 

 have been driven." (P. 54.) 



From the same work : 



" I revelled in the sights and sounds of this wonderful 

 place, which is probably the largest, and perhaps the only 

 large, Egret rookery in North America. The only reason 

 that it exists to-day is because it is guarded by armed 

 wardens who will arrest or, if necessary, shoot any person 

 found upon the property with a gun. . . 



" That the work of destruction is going on with rapidity, 

 one cannot fail to realize who has been to Florida. Three 

 years ago, these beautiful and spectacular species were to be 

 seen nearly everywhere. In 1903 I had hard work to find 

 a few scattered colonies in the remotest and wildest parts 

 of the State. Mr. F. M. Chapman went there last season 

 and found them all practically annihilated. The same is 

 becoming true even in southern Brazil." (Pp. 143-145.) 



From " Bird-Lore," 1908. 



" Until a few years ago, thousands of Snowy Herons 

 made this (Lake Malheur) their summer home, but we saw 

 only one bird. The plume-hunters are responsible for the 

 disappearance of this beautiful species ; they killed in the 

 summer of 1886 enough birds to produce $8,000 worth of 



