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BIRDS OF AMERICA 



SNOWY EGRET 



Egretta candidissima candidissima (Gmelin) 



A. O. U. Number 197 



Other Names. — Little Egret ; Lesser Egret ; Com- 

 mon Egret; Snowy Heron; Little Snowy; Little White 

 Egret ; Little White Heron ; Bonnet Martyr. 



Description. — Length, 24 inches. Plumage, pure 

 white ; bill and legs, black ; toes, yellow ; bare space 

 around eye, greenish-yellow ; iris, chrome yellow. A 

 long crest on crown, another from back of about 50 

 feathers, the latter recurved, and another on lower neck. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually among mangroves 



or in swampy willow ponds ; a simple platform of sticks. 

 Eggs : 2 to 5, pale bluish-green. 



Distribution. — Temperate and tropical America ; 

 formerly bred from Oregon, Nebraska, Indiana, Illi- 

 nois, and New Jersey south to Chile and Argentina ; 

 now breeds locally in the United States from North 

 Carolina to Louisiana ; winters from Florida southward ; 

 casual in British Columbia, Ontario, Massachusetts, and 

 Nova Scotia. 



Much smaller than the Egret, the Snowy Egret 

 i.s nevertheless adorned in the breeding season 

 with " aigrettes." growing on the back between 



Photo by H. K. Job (/curtesy of Outing Pub. Co. 



SNOWY EGRET ON NEST 

 Showing " aigrette " plumes 



the wings, that are quite as valuable in the market 

 as those produced by the larger bird. The 

 plume-feathers are much shorter, more delicate, 

 and are recurved at the end. They are the " cross 

 aigrettes " of the millinery trade. To the plume- 



hunters the bird is known as the " Little Snowy," 

 to distinguish it from the larger species called 

 by them the " Long White." 



Snowy Egrets once bred as far north as New 

 Jersey, but now their northern breeding limit is 

 North Carolina. Although found inland in 

 Florida, they are elsewhere in their range in the 

 United States more distinctively inhabitants of 

 the tide-water regions. Owing to protection 

 afforded them from the millinery feather hunters 

 of recent years by Audubon Society wardens, 

 they appear to be increasing in a few sections, 

 notably about Charleston, South Carolina. Ap- 

 parently the largest gathering of breeding birds 

 is in a splendid Heron colony that has developed 

 under the special care of E. A. Mcllhenny at 

 Avery Island, Louisiana. The rookery is in the 

 trees and bushes of a small artificial pond within 

 joo yards of Mr. Mcllhenny 's house, and among 

 the many interesting entertainments he gives his 

 guests is to take them out to the edge of the 

 yard of a spring evening that they may watch 

 the Herons and Snowy Egrets coming home to 

 roost or to relieve their mates on guard at the 

 nests. 



Like that of other Herons the food of this bird 

 consists of such small forms of life as inhabit 

 the sloughs and marshes of their territory. The 

 young are fed extensively on small fish that are 

 regurgitated into their throats by the parent bird. 

 The Snowy Egret has a plumage of spotless 

 white. The legs are black and the feet are bright 

 yellow. By observing the coloring of the feet 

 and legs one need never mistake it for the imma- 

 ture Little Blue Heron, which, except for the 

 absence of " aigrettes," it much resembles. 



T. Gilbert Pe.\rson. 



