birds flying by. These decoys they keep in this
position until they die of their wounds, or from the attacks of insects.
I have seen the terrible red ants of that country actually eating out
the eyes of these wounded, helpless birds that were tied up by the
plume-hunters._ I could write you many pages of the horrors practiced in
gathering aigrette feathers in Venezuela by the natives for the
millinery trade of Paris and New York.

"To illustrate the comparatively small number of dead feathers which
are collected, I will mention that in one year I and my associates
shipped to New York eighty pounds of the plumes of the large heron and
twelve pounds of the little recurved plumes of the snowy heron. In this
whole lot there were not over five pounds of plumes that had been
gathered from the ground--and these were of little value. The
plume-birds have been nearly exterminated in the United States and
Mexico, and the same condition of affairs will soon exist in tropical
America. This extermination will come about because of the fact that the
young are left to starve in the nest when the old birds are killed, any
other statement made by interested parties to the contrary
notwithstanding.

"I am so incensed at the ridiculously absurd and misleading stories that
are being published on this question that I want to give you this
letter, and, before delivering it to you, shall take oath to its
truthfulness."

Here is the testimony of Mr. Caspar Whitney, of New York, formerly
editor of _Outing_ Magazine and _Outdoor America_:

"During extended travel throughout South America, from 1903 to 1907,
inclusive, I journeyed, on three separate occasions, by canoe
(1904-1907), on the Lower Orinoco and Apure rivers and their
tributaries. This is the region, so far as Venezuela is concerned, in
which is the greatest slaughter of white herons for their plumage, or
more specifically for the marital plumes, which are carried only in the
mating and breeding season, and are known in the millinery trade as
'aigrettes.'

"There is literally no room for question. The snowy herons are killed
exactly as I describe. It is the custom of all those who hunt for the
millinery trade, and is recognized by the natives as the usual method."

Here is the testimony of Mr. Julian A. Dimock, of Peekamose, N.Y., the
famous outdoor photographer, and illustrator of "Florida Enchantments":

"I know a goodly number of the plume-hunters of Florida. I have camped