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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. A few 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.
Laglaize, the cable flashed back the one sad word; "Inconnu!" I think it entirely possible that enough shed feathers have been picked up in the reeking swamps of Venezuela, on the upper tributaries of the Orinoco, to afford an excuse for the beautiful story of Mr. Laglaize.
I have known of two men who have been engaged in killing the birds on large estates in South America, who were paid regular salaries for their services as egret hunters. Very truly yours, E.A. McIlhenny. I am more than willing to set the above against the fairy tale of Mr. Laglaize. Here is the testimony of A.H. Meyer, an ex-plume-hunter, who for nine years worked in Venezuela.
To offset as far as possible the absolutely true charge that egrets bear their best plumes in their breeding season, when the helpless young are in the nest and the parent birds must be killed to obtain the plumes, the feather trade has obtained from three Frenchmen Leon Laglaize, Mayeul Grisol, and F. Geay a beautiful and plausible story to the effect that in Venezuela the enormous output of egret plumes has been obtained by picking up, off the bushes and out of the water and mud, the shed feathers of those birds!
And we are asked to believe that it is these very Venezuelan picked-up feathers that command in London the high price of $44 per ounce. Mr. Laglaize is especially exploited by Mr. Downham, as a French traveler of high standing, and well known in the zoological museums of France; but, sad to say, when Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn cabled to the Museum of Natural History in Paris, inquiring about Mr.
Laglaize, Grisol and Geay, I offer the written testimony of an American gentleman who at this moment owns and maintains within a few yards of his residence a large preserve of snowy egrets and herons, the former representing the species which furnishes egret plumes exactly similar to those shipped from Venezuela and Brazil. If the testimony of Mr.
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