Page 148 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

126 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
seeing or hearing even the commonest species. When I reflect on this sacrilege, I am lost in wonder at the apathy of the British public."
Mr. Carl Hagenbeck wrote me only three months ago that "the condors of the Andes are all being exterminated for their feathers, and these birds are now very difficult to obtain."
The egret and heron plumes, known under the trade name of " osprey, etc., feathers," form by far the most important item in each feather sale. Therearefifteengrades! Theyaresoldbytheounce,andtheprices range all the way from twenty-eight cents per ounce for "mixed heron" to two hundred and twenty-five shillings ($45.60) per ounce for the best Brazilian "short selected," on February 7, 1912! Is it any wonder that in Philadelphia the prices of finished aigrettes, ready to be worn, runs from $20 to $125!
The plumes that run up into the big figures are the "short selected" coming from the followmg localities, and quoted at the prices set down here in shillings and pence. Count the shilling at twenty-four cents, United States money.
PRICES OF "SHORT SELECTED" EGRET AND HERON PLUMES, IN LONDONONFEBRUARY7, 1912
East Indies Rangoon China Brazil Venezuela
(Lewis & Peat's List)
per ounce, 117/6 to 207/6 = $49.80 max.
" " 150/0 " 192/6 = 46.20 " " " 130/0 " 245/0 = 58.80 " " " 200/0 " 225/0 = 54.00 " " " 165/0 " 222/6 = 53.40 "
The total offering of these "short selected" plumes in December 1911, was 689 ounces, and in February, 1912, it was 230 ounces.
Now with these enormous prices prevailing, is it any wonder that the egrets and herons are being relentlessly pursued to the uttermost endsoftheearth? Ithinkthatanymanwhoreallyknowsthehabits of egrets and herons, and the total impossibility of any quantity of their shed feathers being picked up in a marketable state, must know in his heart that if the London and continental feather markets keep open a few years longer, every species that furnishes "short selected" plumes will be utterly exterminated from off the face of the earth.
Let the English people make no mistake about this, nor be fooled by any fairy tales of the feather trade about Venezuelan "garceros," and vast quantities of valuable plumes picked off the bushes and out of the mud. Thosecarefullyconcoctedegret-farmstoriesmakelovelyreading, but the reader who examines the evidence will soon decide the extent of their truthfulness. I think that they contain not even ten per cent of truth ; and I shall not rest until the stories of Leon Laglaize and Mayeul Grisol have been put to the test in the regions where they originated.
h Jew plumes may be picked out of the jungle, yes; but as for any commercial quantity, it is at present beyond belief. Besides, we have direct, eye-witness testimony to the contrary.