The Egret Hunters of Venezuela 51 one will see a long table where the plumes are being carefully sorted into various grades, according to their length and condition. These grades are then made up into little bundles, an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, and tied at the base. In order to permit of this sorting, the plumes taken from freshly killed birds are not removed, as they are by Florida phimers, by the cutting away of a patch of skin from which they grew, but are pulled out either singly or in little bunches, or sometimes they are cut off close to the skin. Concerning the Egret farms said to be established in Venezuela, the only farming of the kind I saw or heard of was of the same character as the numerous Parrot farms I ob- served ! In nearly every native house one sees from one to half a dozen Parrots, and it is also not uncommon to see two or three Egrets picketed in front of a rancho ; a string two or three feet long being tied around one leg and attached to a stake ; while, to make escape more difficult, the wings are usually cut off at the carpal joint. Nearly every river steamer from San Fernando carries from one to a dozen of these maimed birds to Bolivar or Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, to be disposed of to tourists or others, who have not an opportunity to secure the birds for themselves. The soiled, worn and dirty plumes from these captive birds are sometimes taken, but Egret "farming" is no more of an industry than is Parrot "farming." Two of several small river steamers that were formerly employed solely in plume hunting were owned by Americans who, to my per- sonal knowledge, had gone out of the business and were employing their boats as freighters, for the reason that Egrets are becoming so scarce that it is no longer profitable for them to hunt them. [Mr. Cherrie's observations in regard to the collecting of molted plumes show on what a slender basis of fact rests the assertion of milliners and others that "as Egrets' plumes are now gathered from the ground, the birds no longer being killed, they may be worn by the most tender-hearted woman." The truth is, that the gathering of shed plumes has absolutely no bearing on the question of the destruction of Herons. The hunter and his assistants pick up all the plumes they find and shoot all the birds they can, the ultimate result, in any case, being extermination of the plume-bearing birds. The myth of the Egret "farm" is also illumined by Mr. Cherrie's article, but, like many another attractive lie, it will doubtless survive all attacks make upon it. — Ed.] Hrnni a iiioiintcil specime SNOWY HERON, OR EC.RET, IN NESTING PLUMAGE
