The San Francisco call., 1898-04-03
ia.n 4he shore.

,, a+ tbe shoals along the shore e ins sWe T get our craft in posltio1' r,o one man in boat. before p. III. ail0 I,ith ceaI ourselves and our ,. brnters reeds and foliage just as auI1nt- auCh the do. Along about or D s+s oiu and birds come back to ineil ,,otch our camping grounds. Then we nv long o1nartlinifv for shots, and, py lonS .is, eYperience. have learned pelle. r,,n,. when if comes. Just at the propteai m of ment will shoot, and in IraI'soiii .I foiioW a second my hired shooters T' nan get with their guns. Generany the three or four succeSsIul slo ont of frightened birds before they saii;rttened ai ranee for they are so easily frlghteene. ter. that thev are powerless of flight Ioi of S moment and make good targetS oA themselves. os ff
 ..Sometimes we get as many as teen birds at one evening snoo or but more often the number IS see and eight Years ago, when egreIS herons were very plentiful in Ceil.i e, America. I have killed nine blros III aS many shots before they got out o1 my reach. When we have aeiiS ;r.5. our volleys. and the unharmed piiua S have flown away, we row doou'
 gather the harvest. .o
 .'Extreme care must be exercised to get the feathers and plumes as free as possible from discolored water or lne stain of weeds. Every week we nave to throw away the carcass Of an eere. or heron because the feathers anu plumeS are blOod-Stalned or l"iSleu out of shape
 "After We have got our birds ana have picked the few feathers we want from each we plan another onslaught in another locality. If we are lucky we may soon get located four or HVe miles away amid reeds and foliage un- @f lor cn a for more shooting the next morning. We row about with rare caution, we seldom speak in loud tones and we oo not even smoke while we are hunting, because of the extraordinary Warlness of the birds. Many a time 1 have lain in one position for hours beneath my little roof of jules or rusheS. because saw that a flock of egretS was susp1- cious of the presence Of an enemy .
 "The shores f the lagoons of Central America and the southern part or Mex leo abound in alligators. while all man ner of pestiferous stinging flies, gnats and mosquitoes are in the air. We nave suffered tortures from insect pests, ana one of my hunting men died in agony from the poison of gnats several years ago. When we are on shore we nave danger at night from the puma or mountain lion, and we always sleep with fires burning on all sides or our camp.
 T brought up with me on this trip to Los Angeles eleven puma sklns, for sale to fur ug-makers. l have lost several jackasses by the mountain lions.
 "One day caught lion in the very act of attacking one of my donkeys The lion. which is simply an enormous cat, had sprung at the soft fiabby neck of the donkey and had torn away the flesh. preparatory to sucking the blooo of the jugular vein. The lion had evi- dently knocked the donkey down at one spring and had cuffed the animal into insensibility. The donkey was dead be- fore I got to it. The lion gave some o1 the most extraordinary leaps ever made bv any beast as I shot at it. l meas ured the distance between the print: of the forepaws as the jumps wert made and they were about forty fee apart.
 'The egrets and the herons are of tn crane family of birds The egrets ar small, much like the bitterns and boat bills of the same family.