Ornithological and Other Oddities 



objection to their use is the fact that the birds 

 are killed in the breeding season, the young 

 being left to starve ; but by keeping the birds 

 in captivity all this could be avoided, as they 

 could be caught and shorn much more easily 

 than ostriches or even sheep. 



There are several species of egrets, as these 

 white plume-bearing herons are called, but one 

 seems more suitable than any of the others for 

 artificial culture. This is the biggest of all, the 

 large egret (Herodias alba), a bird found practi- 

 cally all over the world, for although some orni- 

 thologists divide it into two or three species, the 

 differences are not of any practical importance. 

 It is about as tall as our common heron, but 

 even more long and slender in shape, and its 

 breeding plumage is in the form of one thick 

 bunch of very long plumes growing from its 

 back. 



This species, being able to live in both hot 



and temperate climates, would thrive either here 



or in our Colonies, and being of a size to protect 



itself against any ordinary vermin, has obvious 



advantages as a domestic bird. It is, moreover, 



very long-lived. When I was in Calcutta there 



was in the Zoological Gardens there a bird of 



this species, which had previously been for some 



years in the old menagerie of the Viceroy at 



Barrackpore. It had been transferred to the 



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