144 BULLETIN 135;, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Winter. — Thanks to the protection afforded it by the Audubon 

 Society and by local sentiment, we found this beautiful egret to be 

 a very common bird in Pinellas County, Florida, particularly in the 

 viciijity of Boca Ceiga Bay, during the winter of 1924 and 1925. 

 One day in November I counted 41 in sight at one time on a mud 

 flat near Pass-a-Grille; they were in company with three white peli- 

 cans, four wood ibises, a number of little blue herons, and a few 

 Lousiana herons. They were seen almost daily on the mud flats in 

 the bay at low tide, and at high tide they resorted to the shallow 

 lagoons or to fresh- water ponds. They could be easily recognized 

 at a great distarnce by the long neck and slender body and at a con- 

 siderable distance by the large yellow bill. A favorite resort of 

 theirs was a small pond hole close to a much-traveled road on Long 

 Key, where I lived; they were almost always there at high tide 

 during November and December, sometimes as many as 15 or 20 of 

 them; they paid no attention to passing automobiles, which were 

 constantly buzzing by within a few feet, but, if one stopped for 

 an instant, they were off immediately; any attempt to approach the 

 pond on foot was utterly useless. Their confidence was well placed, 

 for no one ever harmed them; but: they showed wise discrimination 

 in other places, for it was impossible to approach them anywhere 

 else. 



Before they began to resort to their breeding grounds on Bird 

 Key, referred to above, they roosted at night on a small mangrove 

 key in a secluded section of the bay, far from any human habitations. 

 The black mangroves in the center were whitewashed with their 

 droppings and the ground under them was littered with white 

 feathers and a few plumes. I never saw any egrets there in the 

 daytime. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Breeding range. — South America, Central America, and southern 

 and western United States. North to Oregon (Silver Lake and Mal- 

 heiu* Lake) ; Nevada (Truckee Valley) ; Utah (Bear River marshes 

 and Salt Lake Valley) ; Wisconsin (Two Rivers) ; northern Indiana 

 (Knouts, Wolf Lake, and Steuben County) ; Virginia, one record 

 (Arlington); and southern New Jersey (Cape May). East to New 

 Jersey (Cape May) ; Virginia (Arlington) ; South Carolina (McClellan- 

 villc and Mount Pleasant); Georgia (Savannah and Cumberland 

 Island); Florida (Orange Lake, Lake Josup, Lake Harvey, xHligator 

 Lake, Lake Gentry, Sebastian, Lake Okeechobee, Cuthbert Lake, and 

 Cape Sable); Cuba (Manzanillo) ; Haiti; Porto Rico (Boqueron, 

 Mameyes, and Pinoro Island); Trinidad; Dutch Guiana (Maroni 

 River) ; Brazil (San Paulo, Iguape, and Taguara) ; and Argentina 

 (Bueaos Aires and Cape San Antonio). South to Argentina (Cape 



