ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



13 



water birds. Hunting parties ascend during the 

 nesting-season, and kill great numbers of the 

 birds. The plumes are taken to Ciudad Boli- 

 var, and disposed of to the export dealers." 



On the upper Paraguay River, however, a 

 new wrinkle in egret slaughter is thus revealed 

 by Lieut. Miller (p. 222): 



"Egrets were present in such vast numbers 

 that the trees were white with them; and when 

 they flew the twinkling wings filled the air like 

 snowflakes. They were not molested in this lo- 

 cality, for the reason that their habitat is im- 

 penetrable. I later learned in another region 

 that thousands of these birds are killed for their 

 plumes, in a most atrocious manner. About the 

 time the egret's feathers are at their best, which 

 is also the time when the nests are filled with 

 young birds, the annual floods have begun to 

 recede, leaving small lakes and marshes teem- 

 ing with imprisoned fish, such as we had seen 

 en route to Rancho Palmiras. This is the sea- 

 son of harvest for the water-birds, and they re- 

 pair daily to some favorite resort to gorge on 

 the luckless fish. The plume-hunters, taking 

 advantage of this combination of circumstances, 

 collect quantities of fish, poison them, and then 

 scatter them over the birds' feeding-grounds. 

 Occasionally poisoned shrimp are used if the 

 inundations extend beyond the usual time. This 

 method is, of course, cheaper than shooting; the 

 birds are not frightened away as they are by 

 the loud report of guns, and the success of such 

 relentless persecution must be obvious. A whole 

 colony could be exterminated in its feeding- 

 grounds even if the rookery is impregnable." 



II. Slaughter of Condors 



In his journey across southern South Amer- 

 ica, in the lake region of western Argentina. 

 Mr. Miller came upon the actual source of the 

 supply of condor quills that formerly met the 

 demands of the London feather market. This 

 was .it Mendoza. in the Andes, four hours by 

 train from San Juan (p. 422). 



"At Mendoza we met an Indian who claimed 

 to be the champion condor hunter of all South 

 America. During his ten years of collecting he 

 had killed more than sixteen thousand of the 

 magnificent birds. His record for one day was 

 one hundred and fourteen. Naturally, they had 

 become greatly reduced in numbers, for the con- 

 dor lays but a single egg and it takes many 

 months to rear the young. His method was to 

 drive a burro to some lonely gorge among the 

 bleak mountain-tops favored by the birds, and 



then to kill the animal. He was very particular 

 in stating that the burro had to be fat — a poor 

 one would not do for bait. He then spread nets 

 about the carcass, and when the condors gath- 

 ered about to feast he pulled a rope and en- 

 snared them ; on one occasion he trapped sixty- 

 seven at one throw of the net. The prisoners 

 were dispatched with a club and the long wing- 

 feathers extracted to be exported to France to 

 decorate women's hats. Formerly he had re- 

 ceived about twenty pesos per bird. With his 

 accumulated wealth he built a powder-mill ; this 

 promptly blew up, so he was again practically 

 penniless. Of course there were still condors 

 in the mountains — in fact, he knew of a ledge 

 where upward of eight hundred congregated to 

 spend the nights, but the price of feathers had 

 gone down fifty per cent, on account of the war. 

 He ended his speech in a very dramatic man- 

 ner: 'What,' he said, 'me go out and slaughter 

 such a wonderful, magnificent and rare bird as 

 the condor for ten pesos each! No, senor ! Not 

 me.' " 



III. Insect Pests Follow Bird Slaughter 



Finally, Mr. Miller contributes to the cause 

 of the protection of insectivorous birds this 

 highly impressive paragraph, that is destined 

 to be quoted far and wide. Mendoza and San 

 Juan are in the lake district of Western Argen- 

 tina. ("In the Wilds of South America." p. 

 221.) 



"It requires but four hours to reach Mendoza 

 from San Juan by train. This attractive city is 

 really in the heart of the wine country, but the 

 vinevards were almost depleted from the in- 

 roads of an insect called the bicho de cesto. The 

 vegetation all about was covered with small, 

 ragged cocoons from which the hungry hordes of 

 destructive creatures would emerge in the 

 spring. In places wide areas of weeds had been 

 burned over to destroy the pest while still in 

 the incipient stage; but enough always escaped 

 to undo the work of the few careful growers 

 who attempted to stamp out their enemy of the 

 grape-vines. The slaughter of birds on a vast 

 scale may account for the increase of the bicho 

 de cesto. We saw vendors on the streets carry- 

 ing baskets full of small birds of several species 

 — mostly sparrows — which they sold by the 

 dozen. The number killed weekly must run into 

 the thousands. As a natural result of this 

 wholesale killing, birds are not plentiful in the 

 environs of Mendoza." W. T. H. 



