THE SNOWY HERON IN SOUTH CAROLINA 



Bird-lovers and ornithologists everywhere will be glad to 

 learn that in South Carolina, at any rate, the Snowy Heron 

 {Egretta candidissima) is regaining some of its lost ground. 

 The pathetic history of this most beautiful of the herons is 

 familiar to most of our readers. Twenty-five years ago it 

 was an abundant species in the South: but the graceful re- 

 curved "aigrettes" which it assumed during the nesting 

 season caused its rapid and almost complete extermination at 

 the hands of plume-hunters, so that to-day it is by far the 

 rarest of its family. On the South Carolina coast, where 

 formerly it bred in thousands, it was believed to be almost if 

 not absolutely extinct: and it is, therefore, with peculiar 

 pleasure that the Museum is able to announce the discovery 

 that the Snowy Heron has begun to re-establish itself in this 

 region and that two strong breeding colonies now exist on this 

 coast. 



On May 15, I set out in a launch on an exploring trip among 

 the marshes and sea islands in search of the nesting grounds 

 of beach and marsh birds in the interest of the South Carolina 

 Audubon Society and of the Museum. On this trip, the two 

 breeding colonies of the Snowy Heron referred to above were 

 discovered. On May 22, through the kindness of a friend of 

 the Museum who provided a large launch and accompanied 

 us on the trip. Prof. Rea, myself, some of the members of 

 the Natural History Society, and some friends who were in- 

 terested, revisited the heronries and investigated them more 

 throughly. The first heronry discovered is on a small island 

 or "hammock," completely surrounded by marsh and cov- 

 ered with "sparkleberry " bushes, yuccas, and palmettoes. 

 The number of Snowy Herons found here is estimated at 

 between one hundred and one hundred and fifty. Associated 

 with the Snowies were hundreds of Louisiana Herons and 

 Green Herons, as well as a considerable number of Black- 



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