The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-07-11
Tx SLAUGH7EROF H[RONS .
Their Feathers Cost Forty
Five Dollars An Ounce.
CANNOT BE INITIATED
While Aigrets In This Country Are
Now Protected the Demand for
Their Plumes Has Sent Hunters to
India, China and Burnah-Work
Of the Audubon Societies.

4. Look down the long tables
er which stoop the connoisseurs
color and the quality Of feathers.
There are gorgeous tail feathers
from Australian Tyre birds, and hum
ming birds from Venezuelan thick
cts. Ibis wings from up the Nile,
parrots and tanagers from the ANA
Zon, with peacocks and pheasants
from India. There are purple, yell
low and green fruit pigeons from
North Africa. orioles. swallows,
honeysuckles. toucans, trogous. the
quetzal too, sacred and resplendent.
with crested orange and scarlet cock
of-the-rock Lastly. there are the
glorious bird of paradise from New
Guinea. with sweeping plumes OF
silk and gold. and sixty varieties Of
aigret and heron.
Surely the world has been de-
spoiled of its feathered beauty for
women's hats. And each bird differs
In beauty from the other, as one
differs from another star in glory.
Item, 5.026 OF. of osprey" tho
milliner's pride, you read in the cata
logue. India, China, Japan, Austria
liza, Africa and both American con-
tinents have been diligently hunted
for it is fine and precious stuff, fllmy
and delicate as woman's hair.
Eech beautiful bird yields but ono
sixth of an ounce of osprey, and
100000 birds were sacrificed for the
Paris market alone last season.
The much sought after trophy con-
sists of the loose, slender waving
plumes Of the snowy heron. which
cannot be initiated artificially. HUI
man fingers may dexterously model
G white wax arum lily; a rose that
would deceive the honeysucking bee,
but the snowy silver, fiber plume OF
the white aigret is beyond imitation.
And so the heron's enemies are
abroad over the earth. and the
dealers in great cities seek to reen-
force them by making tempting
offers to traders, missionaries, naval
I'D military officers on foreign sta
tons, Consuls and explorers gen.
~.
n China the blue bloused peas
call these birds "the good to
- and they encourage them to
s arch the rice fields for food. But
now that the plume hunter Is found
in every province of China, seeking
Modelling bunches of slender beauty
for women's hats there Is no more
homing of the herons to their here
ditary nests above giant Buddhas,
telling the hour of the dusk to all
the village.
The finest tufts are the we'd
ding garments of both birds. They
grow only as breeding time on the
aigret's back and droop gracefully
over sides and tail. The less fine
plumes, with shorter and sitter fla
ments, such as form the yellow
aigret, are plucked from the bun
backed or squacco heron, which
properly speaking is not an aigret at
all.
The snowy heron has plumage of
SURPRISING whiteness. Viewed side
by side with 1t. the swan. the wood
ibis and the stork look earthly. Re-
ferring to this excessive whiteness
different species have received such
scientific names as alba" "imma-
culate," "candidissima." 1t Is as IL
the lovely bird had some lumi-
nous quality existing within itself
and showing through the plumage.
The havoc wrought among these
beautiful creatures in Florida was
enormous before the Audubon So
cieties stepped between them and
their slayers. The latter having
discovered rookery by watching the
birds flying to and from their nests
would survey the ground, learn the
lines Of fight followed and the
perches or lookout stations COM
monty frequented. Then, armed
preferably with a small rife, the
plume hunter would secrete himself
and wait for his prey.
The busy birds, having families to
provide for, would be active all day,
and as they returned with food for
little mouths they would rest a mo-
ment on the lookout perch, Offering
an excellent mark to the hunter be-
low. The bird fell; a slight report
did not alarm the others; and In a
few days most of the parents would
be slain for the sake Of their nuptial
plumes.
At present the Florida egrets are
strictly protected, yet such Is the
oupidity Of plume hunters that
Warden Guy Bradley of the local
Audubon Society was shot dead by
poachers while watching over his
feathered charges two or three years
ago.
A writer invariably falls into q