134 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



on the surface of a quiet pool. Again, as it springs into flight with 

 neck and legs extended, and as it flaps majestically away on its broad 

 white wings, it seems to be the longest, the slenderest, and the most 

 ethereal of the herons. 



The beauty of its long, flowing plumes, which adorn its back only 

 during the breeding season, has well-nigh proved its undoing; relent- 

 lessly pursued by avaricious plume hunters for many years, it has 

 been driven from many of its former haunts and has been danger- 

 ously nearextermination. But through adequate protection in certain 

 places and by virtue of its own natural shyness, it has survived and 

 is now increasing in many of its former haunts. It was never as 

 numerous as its smaller relative, the snowy egret, and its numbers 

 were proportionately less reduced. And now there is every reason 

 to believe that it will continue to increase in favorable localities. 



Courtship. — Audubon (1840) gives the only account I have seen 

 of this interesting performance as follows : 



As early as December I have observed vast numbers congregated, as if for the 

 purpose of making choice of partners, when the addresses of the males were paid 

 in a very curious and to me interesting manner. Near the plantation of John 

 Bulow, Esq., in east Florida, I had the pleasure of witnessing this sort of tourna- 

 ment or dress ball from a place of conceahnent not more than 100 yards distant. 

 The males, in strutting round the females, swelled their throats, as cormorants 

 do at times, emitted gurgling sounds, raising their long plumes almost erect, 

 paced majestically before the fair ones of their choice. Although these snowy 

 beaux were a good deal irritated by jealousy, and conflicts now and then took 

 place, the whole time I remained much less fighting was exhibited than I had 

 expected from what I had already seen in the case of the great blue heron, Ardea 

 Herodias. These meetings took place about 10 o'clock in the morning, or after 

 they had all enjoyed a good breakfast, and continued until nearly 3 in the after- 

 noon, when, separating into flocks of 8 or 10 individuals, they flew off to search 

 for food. These maneuvers were continued nearly a week, and I could with 

 ease, from a considerable distance, mark the spot, which was a clear sand bar, by 

 the descent of the separate small flocks previous to their alighting there. 



Nesting. — When I fii-st visited Florida, in 1902, the egrets were 

 probably at their lowest ebb, though they were still to be found in 

 small numbers in all the localities we visited. In Brevard County 

 we visited two localities, small cypress swamps, where the year before 

 large breeding rookeries of egrets existed, but not an occupied nest 

 was to be seen. On the upper St. Johns we saw a few egrets, but found no 

 nests. In Monroe County in 1903, among perhaps 4,000 birds in the 

 big Cuthbert rookery, we counted only 18 American egrets and found 

 7 nests. In the latter locality they increased decidedly during the 

 following five years; when we visited the Cuthbert rookery in 1908, 

 we estimated that it contained between 300 and 400 American 

 egrets. Their nests were scattered all over the rookery and were 

 mostly on the tops of the mangroves, where the birds could obtain a 

 good outlook. 



