AMERICAN EGRETS AS VICTIMS TO FASHION. 251 



humane motive but for fear that they should abandon the ' garcero 1 

 if disturbed too much ; but this is always difficult. It is not like 

 preserving a covert. Persons who pay for the right of collecting the 

 plumes have no scruples about destroying the birds. Their object is to 

 get as much as they possibly can for their money. The short or 

 \ crosse' feathers from the Little Egret are exclusively collected from 

 birds shot for the purpose. These feathers are so delicate that they 

 are broken and torn in the bushes and thorns before they are moulted, 

 and the dropped feathers are therefore valueless for trade purposes. 

 The difference between feathers collected from birds which have been 

 killed and feathers moulted by the birds is notable and easily recog- 

 nized. The former, called 'live feathers' out here, are much superior 

 in appearance, they possess greater brilliancy, smoothness, and elas- 

 ticity ; while the latter, called * dead,' are dull, brittle, and dirty. 

 Statements circulated that the feathers are collected from abandoned 

 nests, and that Indians make their living by picking up moulted 

 feathers, do not appear to be founded on fact. The birds are in full 

 plumage after the month of June, and they begin to moult in October. 

 The nesting and breeding season begins in August, during the height 

 of the wet season, and by November the young birds are fledged. The 

 Little Egret breeds somewhat later than the larger Heron. The 

 season for collecting feathers begins about July and continues to the 

 end of November." 



H.B.M. Consul at Eosario, Santa Fe (Argentina), writes (Jan. 16th, 

 1909) : — " Some few years ago, owing to the demand for feathers of 

 the Heron and other birds and the high prices paid, the birds which 

 formerly were very plentiful on the islands bordering all along the 

 River Parana were almost exterminated by the islanders and others, 

 who made a profitable living in hunting them. Although this country 

 has provided laws to prevent shooting out of season, such laws are 

 seldom enforced — in fact, in the inland island districts where the 

 birds exist, or used to, it would be impossible, owing to the vast 

 district, to enforce the laivs. As far as I am aware there are no 

 ' Egret farms ' established in the Argentine, and if shooting, as it is, 

 is prohibited in some parts by landowners, it is solely with a view to 

 prevent their herds being injured by inexperienced sportsmen." 



Mr. J. Quelch, B.Sc. (Lond.), formerly Curator British Guiana 

 Museum, Adviser to the Government for the granting of Licences to 

 kill Wild Birds, writes (Nov. 29th, 1908) : — "During a residence of 

 seventeen years in British Guiana, and with an experience of travel 

 ranging from the Eastern Orinoco to the borders of Surinam, and 



