THE AMERICAN EGRET. 629 



No. 250. 



AMERICAN EGRET. 



A. O. U. Xo. 196. Herodias egretta (Gmel.). 



Synonyms. — ^^'HITe Egki:t. Gre.^vt White Egret. California White 

 Egret. Westerx Egret. White Heron. C-\liforni-\ White Heron. 

 "White Cr.-vne." 



Description. — Adult in breeding plumage: Entire plumage pure white; 

 from the interscapular region originates a train of from forty to fifty elongated 

 feathers, "aigrettes," with enlarged and stififened shafts, and decomposed fila- 

 mentous webs, which reach from eight to twelve inches beyond the tail : lores 

 orange; bill yellow: legs and feet black. Adults after the breeding season and 

 immature: Without elongated plumes on the back. Length (not counting 

 plumes) 36.00-42.00 (914.4-1066.8 1 : wing 15.00 (381): tail 6.75 (171.3): bill 

 4.70 (1 19.4"): tarsus 6.00 ('152.4); middle toe and claw 5.40 ("137.2). 



Recognition Marks. — Eagle size; pure white plumage: black legs and feet: 

 heron habits : "aigrette" train. 



Nesting. — Not certainly known to have bred in Washington. Xest: a mere 

 platform of sticks in bushes near or over water. Eggs. t,-^. dull blue. .-\v. size, 

 2.28x1.60 (57.9x40.6). 



General Range. — "Temperate and tropical .\nierica, from Xew Jersey, Min- 

 nesota and Oregon south to Patagonia : casuall}- on the Atlantic Coast to Nova 

 Scotia." 



Range in Washington. — Formcrlv probably summer visitor at close of 

 breeding season. 



Authorities. — Ardea occidentalis. Newberrv, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., \'ol. 

 VI., Pt. IV., 1857, p. 97. 



A SINGLE line in an ancient governmental quarto is our sole authority 

 for the inclusion of this magnificent and once abundant Heron among the 

 birds of ^^'ashington. But its former occurrence serves to point a moral 

 very much needed, and to adorn a tale, which if trite to some ears, ought to 

 make the ears of certain others tingle. 



Know then, that the "aigrette" of fashionable millinery is solely the 

 product of this and allied .species of Herons: and that in their pursuit, at 

 the behest of thoughtless women, depraved men. called plume-hunters. 

 have reduced to the solitude of a few impenetrable swamps in the Ever- 

 glades, this snow-wliite splendur which was once abundant from Florida 

 to Oregon. 



The peculiar crueltv of this war of extermination lies in the fact that 

 in order to secure the "aigrettes." which are to nod and dance on some 

 lady's bonnet, the bird which owns them must be shot during the nesting 

 season. The magnificent train of feathers is provided only at this time 



