NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 151 



est on the crown, three-quarters of an inch; the back is covered more 

 scantily than the American egret, with long, soft, hairlike, white down; 

 the lower parts are very scantily covered with white down and the 

 throat is naked. The naked skin is Ught green, the bill and feet are 

 pale yellow, shaded with green on the upper surfaces. 



The Juvenal plumage, which is everywhere pure white w^ith no 

 trace of plumes anywhere, is worn without much change through the 

 first fall and winter. Late in the winter or early in the spring, in 

 February or March, a partial molt produces rudimentary plumes on 

 the head, breast, and back. Young birds may breed in this first 

 nuptial plumage. The first postnuptial molt begins in June, is com- 

 plete and produces a plumage indistinguishable from that of the 

 winter adult, when the young bird is less than a 5^ear and a half old. 



Adults have a complete molt in summer, from June to September, 

 at which the beautiful nuptial plumes and aigrettes are shed and 

 replaced by the much shorter and straighter plumes of the winter 

 plumage. Beginning in January or February the partial prenuptial 

 molt produces the full perfection of the nuptial plumage, with its 

 beautiful, long, curving aigrettes. 



Food. — Audubon (1840) has described the feeding habits of the 

 snowy egret so well that I can not do better than to quote his words, 

 as follows : 



The snowy heron, while in the Carolinas, in the month of April, resorts to the 

 borders of the salt-water marshes and feeds principally on shrimps. Many indi- 

 viduals which I opened there contained nothing else in their stomachs. On the 

 Mississippi, at the time when the shrimps are ascending the stream, these birds 

 are frequently seen standing on floating logs, busily engaged in picking them up; 

 and on such occasions their pure white color renders them comspicuous and 

 highly pleasing to the eye. At a later period, they feed on small fry, fiddlers, 

 snails, aquatic insects, occasionally small lizards, and young frogs. Their 

 motions are generally quick and elegant, and, while pursuing small fishes, they 

 run swiftly through] the shallows, throwing up their wings. Twenty or 30 seen 

 at once along the margins of a marsh or a river, while engaged in procuring 

 their food, form a most agreeable sight. In autumn and early spring they are 

 fond of resorting to the ditches of the rice fields, not unfrequently in company 

 with the blue herons. 



Wilson (1832) adds: "It also feeds on the seeds of some species of 

 nymphae, and of several other aquatic plants." Oscar E. Baynard 

 (1912) found that 50 meals of young snowy egrets consisted of 120 

 small suckers, 762 grasshoppers, 91 cut-worms, 2 small lizards, 29 

 small crayfish, and 7 small mocassins, a most interesting collection, 

 which proves that this species is decidely beneficial. Dr. Alexander 

 Wetmore (1916) says of its feeding habits in Porto ilico: 



Frequently the snowy egret feeds in lowland cane fields, especially when these 

 are wet or partly flooded. Often in flocks of three or four they feed in the dry 

 ujjland pastures. Two stomachs were available for examination, both of birds 

 which had been feeding in mangrove swamps. The main content of these is 



