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July 23, 1961 - The saving of our egretsQ=� M, 5-- J OF Ae SNOWY EGRET (Left) and AMERICAN EGRET Exclusive Sunday Review Sketch by Dennis isuleston of Brookhaven Focus Rom ature .. Dennis Puleston is again writing for us today. His article is about the handsome white egrets that we often see in our local creeks and marshes. • We are fortunate to have a person of his calibre contributing So much to this column. —ps I 7he wring of our egrets By Dennis Puleston, Brookhaven In 1947 the New York Times ran an article reporting the appearance of two strange bird species, the Snowy and American Egrets, on Long Island's South Shore. Behind this story lay an exciting true -life drama involving man's greed and woman's vanity, the heroism of a small group of deli. cated people, and the brutal murder of one of them. The presence of these birds serves as a striking example of what can be accomplished in the name of Conservation, when it is supported by an aroused public. As such, the tale bears repetition at this time, when many other wild- life species are threatened with extinction. Since the Times story, many people have remarked upon the increasing number of these beau- tiful snow -white herons to be seen each summer adorning our ponds and bays. Now, they are even breeding on the Island in several well- established colonies. It is difficult to believe that half a century ago only a few dozen birds were heft, struggling for survival in the more remote swamps of southern Florida and the Gulf Coast. Yet this was the state to which they had been reduced by a particularly vicious form of commercialism. The tale begins with the dic- tators of fashion in the Vic- torian age, who called for the adornment of women's hats with the sprays of feathers known as "ospreys" or "aig- rettes". The adult egrets develop these delicate plumes only in the breed- ing season; since they nested in large colonies known as rooker- ies they were extremely vulner- able to the plume hinters, who could pick the birds off with their shotguns as they returned to feed their nestlings. In this way, an entire rook- ery would be quickly wiped out, the bodies of the parent birds being left to rot in the swamps after the precious plumes had been torn from their backs, and the young to perish of slow starvation in their nests. The plumes fetched a high price; one millinery firm alone sold $200,000 worth of aigrettes in a single year, but the women who proudly wore them were unaware of the evil trade that they were supporting. The rapid disappearance of the egrets and other victims of the feather trade was arousing the concern of many naturalists, and when the Na- tional Audubon Society was founded in 1905 one of its first acts was the appoint- ment of.-several wardens, in a desperate effort to save these vanishing species. One of these wardens, deter- mined to do his duty at whatever risk, was a young Floridian named Guy Bradley. Soon after he took office, Bradley heard the sound of gunfire at one of the few remaining rookeries under his care near Cape Sable. Row- ing out, in his skiff, he drew alongside the . hunters' schooner, on the deck of which were still piled the freshly collected plum- es. "You are under arrest," he told the crew, producing his war- rant. The skipper, without hesi- tation, fired his rifle at point- blank range into Bradley's chest. Two days later, Guy Bradley's body was found lying in the bottom of his drifting boat. He had given his life for the egrets, a martyr in the cause of Con- servation. The murder and subsequent trial of the killer received sufficient publicity to awaken the nation to the grave situa- tion. Many women, horrified to learn of the slaughter for which they were indirectly responsible, refused to wear any more aigrettes. Laws were enacted to stop the traffic, and the plume hunters were forced to reluctantly aban- don their gruesome business. But by this time it was almost too late; it seemed that the few re- maining egrets were well on their way to ultimate extinction. But one man, accepting the tremendous challenge, determin- ed to dedicate all his energies and his material resources to saving the birds. He was Edward McIlhenny, of the wealthy Louis- iana family famous for its Tab- asco Sauce business. At great personal expense and with much difficulty, Me Ilhenny obtained a few nest- ling egrets, which he trans- ported to Avery Island on the Gulf Coast. By raising them by hand and keeping them in semi - captivity, he was even- tually able to induce them to breed on specially constructed nesting plat- forms, where they were given maximum protection against abnormal. tides,. plundering by Paul Stoutenburgh Cutchogue raccoons, rats, crows, and other predators, and the dis- turbance of humans. After many years, the colony had flourished to the point where McIlhenny considered it safe to establish new artificial rookeries at other points along the coast. Eventually, the egrets returned to Florida, where conditions were again favorable for them now that they were receiving full protection. Since those tragic years, both American and Snowy Egrets have flourished, their numbers increa- sing steadily until now their pop- ulations have spilled over into almost every state in the Union, and even into Canada. On Long Island they can be seen, especially in July and August, standing in con- siderable numbers on the sandbars of Great South Bay. Both of these elegant white birds are typical members of the heron family, with long legs and long slender necks which are folded back to their shoulders in flight. They have the grace and deli- cacy, both when standing in the shallows and in slow, dignified flight, that is portrayed so well in Oriental prints. The smaller Snowy gret can be distinguished by its black bill and legs; when it flies, the bright yellow feet are. noticeable. The American Egret, almost as large as the Great Blue Heron, has a yellow bill, while both legs and feet are black. On Cape Sable in Southern Flo- rida, a stone marker stands over Bradley's grave. It bears the simple inscription: Guy M Bradley 1870 - 1905 Faithful Unto Death As Game Warden of Monroe County He Gave His Life for the Cause to Which He Was Pledged. This fitting memorial to a brave man has since been seen by many thousands of nature lovers visiting the Everglades National Park, and they cannot help but become increasingly aware of the ceaseless struggle that must be made by all who believe in the conservation of -our wildlife for future generations. But without a doubt Guy Brad- ley's finest memorials are the great, thriving rookeries of egrets that are now spreading through- out the nation, the dramatic proof that conservation is more than just an idealistic dream. CANCER HITS ANIMALS SAN DIEGO, Calif. (UPI) —Can- cer, which ranks second only to heart disease as a killer of man, also takes its toll of animals. Of- ficials at San Diego Zoo report that several b e a r s and even snakes have fallen victims to the disease.