ORNAMENTAL PLUMES 163 



can be seen that virtually all birds come in one 

 way or another under the scope of the hunter of 

 plumage. 



Up to the nineteenth century the bulk of collect- 

 ing was undertaken by the natives of the regions 

 where the birds make their homes. Although the 

 growth of their population was held in check, no 

 species were exterminated. The traps, the blow- 

 pipes, and the arrows of the natives, while deadly, 

 were not all-cpnquering, and the plumage birds 

 held their own in numbers. 



Then annual fashions became an institution in 

 the civilized world. During the nineteenth cen- 

 tury the white races increased tremendously in 

 population both in Europe and America. Busi- 

 nesses multiplied and people grew rich. As they 

 obtained more money fashion began to mean more 

 and more to the "unfashionable" public. And 

 fashion declared that feathers should be worn. 

 The cry was raised that there were not enough 

 plumes to go around. Then it was that "civil- 

 ized" men took up the hunt. 



When the white hunter took the field great 

 rookeries remained all over the world, untouched 

 as yet save for periodical attacks by a few ill- 

 armed savages. These colonies were the first to 

 suffer at the hands of the new professional plume 

 hunter. Armed with rapid-fire breech-loading 

 shot-guns he proceeded to his work. No thought 

 of a future birdless world entered his mind. The 



