Perth Amboy evening news., 1903-04-02
THE PLUME HARVEST
Hunters in Southern States Furnish
Northern Markets.
Lead Lonely Lives In the svamps,
where They Are Constantly on
the watch for Feathered
Creatures.

AL LnlS season OF year the plume
hunters are reaping their harvest. They
are the men who in all of the thousands
of bays, inlets and bayous of the South
Atlantic coast, on the marshy ponds
of the interior and in the great swampy
districts shoot shore birds for their
pluniage only.
1t is an industry widely spread, in
which a good deal of capital is invest
ed and good deal of work done, and
properly conducted it is highly re-
munerative, says recent report in the
New York Sun.
The plume hunter must face all sorts
of weather, of course, except very cold
weather. He must know what birds
are most highly valued and where they
are to be found, how they are to be ap-
preached and how their plumage is to
be preserved after they are dead.
There is nothing difficult about. the
work.
Probably there are more plume hunt
ers in Florida than in any other state,
though many of them operate along
the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts,
down the Atlantic edge of Georgia and
in Texas and Arkansas.
They get all sorts of birds because
of late years plumes have become
scarcer and milliners now use feathers
they would have disdained formerly,
but in the main they devote themselves
to well-plumed shore birds, some of
which are of extremely beautiful hues.
Among the birds of Florida most
steadily pursued are the herons, black,
white, blue and green. These are in
tens of thousands, and though they
are shy, they can be reached by man
who knows howA
Avocats, black and white, are slain
in numbers, as is the whooping crane,
a great stately bird whose body fur
nishes so many handsome feathers
that it is rich haul. Flamingoes of
a light pink, those of so dark pink
as to be almost crimson and the pink
and white and pink and blue varieties
are eagerly sought.
The curlews, sandpipers and other
trotters along the sands are gathered
in, and fishhawks and pelicans are
knocked down at every opportunity.
There is also relentless war against the
many kinds of southern gulls. In fact,
pretty nearly all feathers are regarded
as good things by the plume hunter
except the buzzard's feathers, or the
feathers of the yellow-tipped Mexican
vulture.
The skins are rudely but effectually
preserved. They are taken off whole,
with the wings left on, and after the
fat is scraped from them they are
rubbed with salt and powdered arsenic.
No further attention is paid to them,
except to pack them securely, and they
reach New York in excellent condition
With many of the smaller birds more
care is taken, and the plume hunter
in preserving them may even rise to
taxidermy. 1t is often desired to save
these skins with the heads on, so that
the whole bird may adorn some wom-
ans bonnet. The plume hunters do
very well, some of them, and are pa
tient about learning, because the bet
ter work of this sort is done the more
money they will get for it when it
reaches the wholesale feather houses
in the north.
AS a general thing plume hunters
lead lonely and exposed lives, camp
ing under ragged tents in swampy dis
tricts, doing their own cooking, stand
ing or sneaking for hours in the mud
and day and night unspeakably dirty.
Some of them have boats and drift up
and down the bayous, picking off a
crane or avocat here and there, or they
force their way through tangled
swamps, where the vines swing low to
the water, making for some hidden
lagoon far in the forest, known to no
man save them.
Some of them have breechloaders,
but not many of them, though the
pump gun is finding its way among
them rapidly. They use cheap, black
powder and unchilled shot, but they
kill all right, and as the cost of am
munition is much of an object with
them, one will sometimes put in half
day trying to get little nearer.
Occasionally small-caliber rifle is
found among them, and this is much
the best weapon for their business, but
commonly they stick to antique, muz-
zle-loading double barrels, with water
proof caps A plume hunter with or
binary luck will clear up several hum
dred dollars in winter, and through
the summer he fishes, half for profit,
half for amusement, or loafs through
the warm spell.