THE EGRET 143 



see. Upon any sudden noise, hundreds of these different 

 herons would spring from the trees everywhere about. Then 

 they would return and alight upon the tree-tops, the delicate 

 snow-white plumes from the backs of the Egrets straying 

 out bewitchingly in the breeze. Nearly all day we paddled 



EGRET WATCHING APPROACH OF BOAT 



about amid the lacustrine forest, and I revelled in the sights 

 and sounds of this wonderful place, which is probably the 

 largest, and perhaps the only large. Egret rookery in North 

 America. The only reason that it exists to-day is because it 

 is guarded by armed wardens who will arrest, or, if necessary, 



