[Illustration: SNOWY EGRETS IN THE McILHENNY EGRET PRESERVE
It is at This Period That the Parent Birds are Killed for Their Plumes,
and the Young Starve in the Nest
Photo by E.A. McIlhenny]

Three years ago, I think there were not many bird-lovers in the United
States, who believed it possible to prevent the total extinction of both
egrets from our fauna. All the known rookeries accessible to
plume-hunters had been totally destroyed. Two years ago, the secret
discovery of several small, hidden colonies prompted William Dutcher,
President of the National Association of Audubon Societies, and Mr. T.
Gilbert Pearson, Secretary, to attempt the protection of those colonies.
With a fund contributed for the purpose, wardens were hired and duly
commissioned. As previously stated, one of those wardens was shot dead
in cold blood by a plume hunter. The task of guarding swamp rookeries
from the attacks of money-hungry desperadoes to whom the accursed plumes
were worth their weight in gold, is a very chancy proceeding. There is
now one warden in Florida who says that "before they get my rookery they
will first have to get me."

Thus far the protective work of the Audubon Association has been
successful. Now there are twenty colonies, which contain all told, about
5,000 egrets and about 120,000 herons and ibises which are guarded by
the Audubon wardens. One of the most important is on Bird Island, a mile
out in Orange Lake, central Florida, and it is ably defended by Oscar E.
Baynard. To-day, the plume hunters who do not dare to raid the guarded
rookeries are trying to study out the lines of flight of the birds, to
and from their feeding-grounds, and shoot them in transit. Their motto
is--"Anything to beat the law, and get the plumes." It is there that the
state of Florida should take part in the war.