The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1896-11-21
PICKING RICE BIRDS.
New and Profitable Industry In which
south Carolina Negroes Have Engaged.


The rice-hird crop has been more
profitable this year than the rice har-
vest. After cultivatlng the rice the
negroes have found bonanza this fall
in supplying northern and western mar
kets with the birds
These birds are known in the MOTH
as reed birds. On their annual flight to
n warmer climate they have stopped
over here sufficiently long to harass the
planter by eating of his late rice. which
Is now of creamy consistency. This
diet gives the little birds the most de-
licious flavor, makes their bodies Jumps
OF delicate fat and renders their bones
so soft that they are consumed by the
epicurc with relish.
Every rice plantation has its regular
"rice minders." These are negroes
armed with muskets. In the evening
they are expected 10 turn In TO the over
seer a certain number of birds for every
load of shot. Outside hunters are not
permitted in the fields, because the de-
struction of rice by careless walking
would be too great. IL is remarkable
how many birds are killed sometimes mt
n single discharge of an old musl<et
that has been in service against larger
but wilder game. With six or seven
drachms OF powder behind n handful Of
No. 10 shot, n negro, knee-deep in mud
and water, will make his way through
the rice TO the edge OF vast flock OF
the little birds which have descended
like cloud upon the grain, bending il
down. The gunner is prohibited from
shooting the birds on the rice. for the
shot cuts the stalks. So, when he has
reached an advantageous place. he rises
above the waving grain and gives n
yell. The next instant the dir is full of
birds; there does not seem 10 be room
tiny wings II is then that the bird
hinder points his gun toward the
blacklist part OF the cloud and pulls the
trigger. Sometimes the old brass bands
that hold the barrel in place are made to
bulge, and as often as not the weapon
jumps out of the hands of the shooter.
Sometimes the negro measures his
length in the mud. knocked down by
the tremendous recoil He is quickly
up, however, ard begins throwing birds
into n sack.
Right here is where the negro proves
himself the superior OF the usual rice
bird hunter. The white man may kill
as many, but in the thick, oycrhanging
rice he cannot find half of them. OF
course n great many dead ones are lost,
and nearly oil those with broken wings
escape, but it is not very unusual for a
darby TO gather up ten dozen birds ms
the result of one shot.
This fall the demand for rice birds
has been greater than ever before, and
the prices offered in Philadelphia, New
York and elsewhere have been so high
that negroes on the great plantations
on the Santee river have resorted TO ma
tive ingenuity and primitive methods
TO capture the birds which they were
not permitted to shoot in the rice fields.
The birds roost on the reeds and rushes
OF great marshes near the rice fields,
and there the promise OF dollar doz-
en- has tempted the dusl<y hunter. Run
ming his boat up some winding creek,
he lands in the heart Of the wilderness.
A big-mouthed corn sack is slung over
his left shoulder; in his left hand is a
long, blazing, lightwood torch. Thus
he proceeds through the roosting
grounds of the birds, sometimes knee
deep, sometimes hip-deep, in water and
mud. Blinded by the light, the birds
make no effort TO escape, and the right
hand Of the hunter is employed almost
constantly in picking the birds from the
roosts, passing them to his mouth,
where his teeth meet through their
necks, and thence into the big-mouthed
bag.
Between 400 and 500 birds are regard
ed as fair nights catch for one man.
The season is short and this night work
Is hard in the fever-laden mir, but the re-
suit of one such night at present prices
is equal TO two months hard work with
spade, hoe or plow.-N. Y. Sun.