The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-07-03

I
went hunting while he was silver min
ing along the coast of Yucatan during
the winter of 1874 One day he brought
to camp several beautiful specimens Of
herons>or bitterns. He carefully packed
away box of the finest feathers plucked
from the birds. When he went home to
New Orleans his sisters were delighted
with the gift of the feathers.
A local milliner saw the Bennett girls
new plumes, and he wanted to buy the
lot for $40. That set Mr.. Bennett to
thinking. He knew where he could get
hundreds more lots OF similar feathers.
81 contracted with a wholesale milliner
to furnish him egret plumes for year,
said Mr.. Bennett, in relating his expert
ences recently, land then L set out for
Yucatsn. OF course, my business is that
of a common pOt-hunting shooter. 4
don apologize for it, but L do put as
much spOrtsmanship in my work as pos
sible. The first two years i was hunt
ing down in Yucatan and Honduras 4
cleared, over and above my expenses and
my living, 5000, but that WAS when
there was no one who competed with me
in egret hunting, except a lot Of lazy,
stupid, drunken natives of Central Amer
lea, and there were thousands of errets
more in thOss days than now. n some
days used to get as many as twenty
any occupation so profitable as getting
thirty or so egrets week at about 81
each for their plumes and feathers.
where do hunt nOwf On the west
coast of Mexico, near Topic and Sinaloa.
i hunted for fifteen years In every part
OF Central America, and i had the
natives WORK for me at times, so we
made the birds mighty scarce down there
before we got through. i began hunting
down in the Gulf of California and later
in the bays and lagoons on the Pacific
ocean side of Mexico In 1888, and I be-
leve there's enough birds in that region
TO keep me busy as long as 4 care TO stay
by the euret-huntinu business BUT
everywhere in the regions have been and
have ever heard about a rapidly growing
scarcity OF egrets Is evident. 1 am sure
that IN dozen years or more, III the
fashion in WON an IS millinery prevails as
now, there viii be very few egrefs left on
the west coast OF the whole western CON
tinent. 4 have talked with men who used
to hunt egrets and herons in the marsh
lands and bays of Peru the United
states of Colombia, and Ecuador for the
Paris and other European markets. and
they tell me that the birds have boen 50
thoroughly wiped out down that way
that IL is "A loss Of time and money 10 try
70 get a living By hunting egrefs ana
herOns. A millinery feather-buyer from
Paris who came down TO the City II
Mexico last January told me that he will
never come out this way any more 70 buy
At0bAtA1s Tor NhtFt were INW 1L
plumes 60 be had that il WIS a losing
proposition for him. lie said that his
firm In Paris was going TO turn lts at
tention to seeking its ornamental feather
supply in Africa, but that 1T was by no
means certain that 10 could get egret
plumes in that part of tbs world The
house he was with in Paris used TO buy
SIS, 900 worth Of egret feathers In Mexico.
Central America, and Peru every year
80 You can see how the business on this
continent has diminished
"Egret feathers are now cold entirely
by weight. When 1 went into getting the
feathers as business 1 sold them al SO
much plume and so much for smaller
and discOl0red feathers. The Partisan
mllllners, who rule the ornamental fanth-
er market of the world and make and un-
make all the fashions and create demands
in our inc of business, began to buv
egret and heron feathers by the ounce
ana that practice was quickly followed
by the New York and Philadelphia orna-
mental feather dealers. Under the Nc
kinney tariff law there was a duty OF
ten per cent ad valOrem on all my eurnt
Feat hers sent to New York but now thew
| are admitted free Of duty. The price FOR
my feathers depends upon the condition
OF my stock and the manner and place in
which 1 market it, i have to take
several things into consideration in SELL
ing season shooting of some 5000 CT
81, QUO worth of egret feathers.
only a very few feathers are available
/ on the egret. On the heron there are
three times as many. But heron feathers
are worth less than half as much as
egret feathers. The experienced feathpr-
buyer knows the difference at glance
/