EGEET FARMING IN SIND. 
749 
2. In all the places visited the supply of these fry was easily obtainable by 
netting in the neighbouring dhands and they were all fresh and clean. 
3. The quantity given per bird per day was sufficient — about 1 lb. a day. 
4. Water is supplied in earthenware bowls which are left lying on the 
ground and of which there are large numbers in each enclosure. 
5. This water is obtained either from the well in the village itself, as at 
Changro where the villagers drink the same water as that supplied 
to the birds, or from the neighbouring dhand, as on the Munnchur. 
N.B. — As the condition of the feathers of the bird is improved by a good 
supply of both fresh food and water, it is certainly not in the inter- 
ests of the villagers to in any way stint them of these necessities. 
In all the enclosures I visited the birds appeared well fed and not 
in the least hungry, and there was never any visible sign of any 
shortage of either food or drink, both of which were lying about in 
every enclosure in large quantities. 
Mutilation. 
1. No blind Egrets were seen. 
2. The terminal joint of the wing of every bird is amputated. 
3. Birds are never tethered in the enclosure. 
4. Whenever the birds are moved, either by road or rail, the eyelids are 
sown up. The method adopted is as follows : — 
The lower lid of each eye is pierced by a fine needle and a piece of 
very fine cotton thread is drawn through. The two pieces of 
cotton are then tied over the head of the bird, thus causing the 
lower eyelid to be drawn up over the upper e 5 'elid. 
N.B. — With the exception of the Egret farm on the Munnchur very little 
transportation takes place. In fact the transportation of the birds 
is almost entirely confined to those times when the newly captured 
Egrets are brought by rail from the place where they have been 
originally caught to the farm in Sind which has bought them. As 
most of the farming is carried on by breeding, there is very little 
transportation taking place and therefore very little suturing. 
But on the Munnchur it is quite different. Here the Mahanas are com- 
pelled by floods to move their huts twice a year — once at the begin- 
ning of the rains from the borders of the lake to Bubak village, and 
again back again at the end of the rains. Hence the birds have 
their eyelids sown up twice a year. 
I carefully examined over 50 birds on the Munnchur Lake which had 
undergone the operation of suturing, but never discovered any 
visible ill affects caused thereby. But it must be remembered that 
as I visited the farm in February, no birds had been sutured for the 
last four or five months. 
Extraction of Plumes. 
1. All the dorsal plumes of H. yarzetta are plucked once every three 
months, just before moulting would naturally take place. 
2. The plumes are not plucked one by one, but all together, one man 
holding the bird while the other plucks. 
3. The feathers are held in the centre and are jerked out; 
4. The backs of the birds immediately after plucking show considerable 
laceration and a good deal of blood is draMoi during the process. 
5. The occipital plumes of H. yarzetta are not plucked. 
N.B. — Curiously enough the bird, dming the actual plucking, does not 
show any obvious signs of pain. There are no bad after effects that 
I could see. The bird does not sulk but continues, on release, 
to walk about and feed as if nothing had occurred. What pain there 
may be would appear to be purely temporary. But from the con- 
