The Destruction of Wild Birds in General throughout the World. 849 



the o](l-fasIiione(l rifle was not an efficient instrument. The great 

 bird dies hard, and often, though mortally wounded, escaped the 

 hunter. But the plume-hunters of the middle Orinoco basin, who 

 are crossbreds produced from native X'^enc/.uclans, Negroes, and 

 Red Indians, are crafty fellows, and, as soon as the opportunity 

 occurred, provided themselves witli a weapon sufficiently efïective 

 for their purpose. The jabiru is shot to-day with a soft-nosed 

 bullet from a Mauser rifle — a dreadful missile, which often tears 

 away a great piece from the body of the bird. Even in this 

 sickening condition, unless the mutilation be such as to prevent 

 flight, the majestic creature will take wing in one last effort to 

 escape. Of a sudden, it falls lifeless to the earth — and woman's 

 wish is gratified. 



Before leaving Venezuela, I have occasion to again quote 

 from the Consular Report for 1908. Exclusive of the plumes of 

 the egret, there were exported from Ciudad Bolivar during that 

 year 10 612 pounds weight of other plumage. Five tons, nearly, 

 of ornamental feathers shipped from one port in one year! 



I ask you to ponder on these 'figures, and to reflect what this 

 annual hecatomb of birds darkly yet plainly indicates. 



So retentlessly has the humming bird been pursued for its 

 feathers that certain species in the West Indies with a restricted 

 habitat are already exterminated, while others are at the point 

 of extermination. In Trinidad, for example, the number of species 

 has been reduced in recent years from 18 to 5. The humming 

 bird is protected by law throughout Great Britain's possessions 

 in the West Indies, but the feather dealer, impervious to any 

 light but the glitter of gold, and constitutionally unable to realize 

 that in the beauty of these the most brilliant of living creatures 

 there is a value greater than the value that is entered in a ledger, 

 laughs these laAvs to scorn. So far, this year, but two of the 

 six annual plume sales have taken place in London, but in those 

 two sales alone there were catalogued the skins of over 21 000 

 humming birds. 



No better instance of the destructions of species for the 

 millinery markets of Europe can be given than the massacre of 

 the shore-birds of the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Twenty 

 five years ago these birds swarmed all down this coast in incredible 

 numbers. To-day, all that remains Of that extraordinary abun- 

 dance is a few scattered colonies, rigidly guarded by wardens. 

 Had it not been for the establishment of these reservations, there 

 would not have been a gull or a tern left. As it is, without the 

 protection and careful supervision constantly given those that 

 remain, these feathered wards of the Government would soon 

 be swept from the land. 



How bitterly the plume-hunters resent the creation of these 

 reservations may be gathered from the fact that in recent years; 



v. [nternationaler Ornithologen-Koniireß. Oi 



