158 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



It was the same story with many other locaHties; and to-day 1 

 doubt if the reddish egret breeds anywhere in Florida. 



To see the reddish egret at its best we must visit the coast of 

 Texas, where it is really abundant from Matagorda Bay to Cameron 

 County, reaching its maximum abundance on Green Island in Laguna 

 Madre. The coast of Texas with its long string of bays and shallow 

 inland waters, dotted with many low marshy islands, is well suited 

 to the habits of this maritime species, which seldom strays far away 

 from salt water. Here the reddish egret nests abundantly in the low 

 vegetation on many of the islands and feeds in the shallow muddy 

 waters in which small fishes are abundant. 



Courtshi'p. — The reddish egret in its nuptial display, in which it 

 frequently indulges all through the breeding season to express its 

 emotions, fairly bristles with plumes. The brownish pink plumes of 

 the head, neck, and breast and the bluish gray plumes of the back 

 stand out like the quills of a porcupine giving the bird quite a for- 

 midable appearance, terrifying to its enemies, perhaps, but probably 

 pleasing to its mate. The males vie with each other in this spectacu- 

 lar display, the particolored bills pointed upward and the necks held 

 in graceful curves, as they strut and bow before the .lady of their 

 choice. 



Audubon (1840) describes the com-tship as follows: 



About the beginning of April, these herons begin to pair. The males chase 

 each other on the ground, as well as in the air, and on returning to their chosen 

 females erect their crest and plumes, swell out their necks, pass and repass before 

 them, and emit hollow rough sounds, which it is impossible for me to describe. 

 It is curious to see a party of 20 or 30 on a sand bar, presenting as they do a 

 mixture of colors from pure white to the full hues of the old birds of either sex; 

 and still more curious perhaps it is to see a purple male paying his addresses to 

 a white female, while at hand a white male is caressing a purple female, and not 

 far ofif are a pair of white, and another of purple birds. 



He also refers to a display in flight: 



The flight of this heron is more elevated and regular than that of the smaller 

 species. During the love season, it is peculiarly graceful and elegant, especially 

 when one unmated male is pursuing another, a female being in sight. They 

 pass through the air with celerity, turn and cut about in curious curves and zig- 

 zags, the stronger bird frequently erecting its beautiful crest, and uttering its 

 note, at the moment when it expects to give its rival a thrust. When these 

 aerial combats take place between old and immature birds, their different colors 

 form a striking contrast, extremely pleasing to the beholder. 



Nesting. — On our trip down the coast of Texas in 1923 we found 

 a few reddish egrets nesting in the mixed rookeries around Karan- 

 kawa and La Vaca Bays near the lower end of Matagorda Bay. 

 Near the entrance to Karankawa Bay we found, on May 9, a small 

 but densely populated colony on a little motte of small trees and 

 thorny bushes on a marsh; this contained perhaps 50 nests of Ward 



