AMERICAN EGRETS AS VICTIMS TO FASHION. 247 



loculator, L.). The last-named build on the tops of masses of 

 foliage, where they break the twigs to form a kind of platform 

 for their nests. All this busy multitude, fully engaged in search- 

 ing for food and for rearing their young, fill the air with their 

 cries which are as deafening as manifold. 



From July to October, during the nesting and rearing season, 

 the male and female possess their ornamental feathers ; those of 

 the male of the large species are the longer, and have a thicker 

 stem than those of the female. In the male of the smaller species 

 the tip of the feathers is very strongly curved, whereas in the 

 female it is scarcely arched. In France these feathers are named 

 in the trade "aigrettes" and " crosses," whereas in England they 

 are known as " ospreys." They are made up in small packets 

 of forty sprays, which are called "parures" or "sets"; the 

 small Egret produces forty to fifty sprays, weighing a little more 

 than one gramme. A thousand sprays weigh an ounce (thirty 

 grammes) ; it takes thirty-three thousand sprays to make a kilo. 

 The " ospreys " of the Asiatic species are heavier, as it only re- 

 quires eight hundred of them to make the ounce and twenty- 

 seven thousand the kilo. With the large species it is just the 

 opposite. The Egrets of the American variety are heavier ; each 

 bird produces from forty-five to sixty, weighing 6*5 to 8 grammes. 

 Two hundred and forty of these go to the ounce and eight 

 thousand to the kilo, whereas in the case of feathers of Asiatic 

 origin three hundred go to the ounce or ten thousand to 

 the kilo. 



The wholesale price of these feathers is very variable, even 

 during the course of a year. According to the requirements of 

 fashion it may rise to eighty francs per ounce for " aigrettes " or 

 two thousand seven hundred franc3 per kilo, and two hundred 

 and fifty francs an ounce for " ospreys " or eight thousand three 

 hundred francs per kilo ; but these prices may fall to almost 

 nothing when they are out of fashion. 



The chief country producing these feathers is Venezuela, 

 where they are also sent from Colombia and from Brazil. It is 

 stated that the incursions by the natives have already diminished 

 the number of Egrets in these regions ; but it is well to guard 

 against any exaggeration, as there is no need to make holocausts 

 of Egrets to obtain their ornamental feathers. In fact, M. Geay, 



