162 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Young. — Both sexes incubate. The period of incubation does not 

 seem to be known, but it is probably between three and four weeks. 

 Audubon (1840) says of the young: 



Being abundantly and carefully fed, at first by regurgitation, they grow fast, 

 and soon become noisy. When about a month old, they are fed less frequently, 

 and the fish is merely dropped before them, or into their open throats; soon after 

 they sit upright on the nest, with their legs extended foward, or crawl about on 

 the branches, as all other herons are wont to do. They are now sensible of 

 danger, ;and when a boat is heard coming toward them they hide among the 

 branches, making toward the interior cf the keys, where it is extremely diflB- 

 cult to follow them. On one occasion, when I was desirous of procuring some of 

 them alive, to take to Charleston, it took more than an hour to catch eight or 

 nine of them, for they moved so fast and stealthily through the mangroves, al- 

 ways making for the closest and most tangled parts, that a man was obliged to 

 keep his eyes constantly on a single individual, which it was very difficult to do, 

 on account of the number of birds crossing each other in every direction. They 

 do not fly until they are 6 or 7 weeks old, and even then do not venture beyond 

 the island on which they have been reared. 



Mr. Cahn (1923) writes: 



The life of the young birds is anything but exciting. Day after day they lie 

 on their shallow platform of sticks under the sweltering raya of a June sun, and 

 the monotony of their lives is broken only by the coming and going of the old birds 

 and, as the nestlings grow older, by innocent sparring matches among themselves. 

 Long before they are able to fly, they leave the nest at the approach of danger 

 and, using beak and wings and legs, climb unsteadily about in the brush, return- 

 ing to the nest when the excitement is over. Before they are able to climb out 

 of the nest, the babies make a valiant defense againstan intruder by hissing and 

 jabbing vigorously with their bills. They are so unsteady, however, that they 

 very seldom hit what they are aiming at. They are a comical sight sitting on 

 their heels, their great feet sprawling before them as they vainly endeavor to keep 

 their balance during the violent exercise of defense. Once they become used to 

 climbing about in bushes, they are safe, as then it is nearly impossible to capture 

 them; they can go through the tangle much faster than you can. 



The chief source of mortality among the young egrets and herons seems to be 

 falling out of the nest, and a young bird is permitted to die of starvation or to 

 be consumed by the red ants or a stray coyote that may reach the island during 

 low water, right under the nest, without the old birds showing any sign or com- 

 prehending what is going on. 



Plumages. — The downy young reddish egret has two distinct color 

 phases, pure white and colored. In the colored phase, which is far 

 commoner, the forehead, crown, and occiput are covered with long, 

 hairliko plumes, an inch long, "light cinnamon drab " in color; the sides 

 of the head and neck are scantily, and the back is more thickly, clothed 

 with long, soft down of a "light mouse gray" or "drab-gray" color, 

 the under parts are covered more scantily with down of the same 

 color; and the throat is naked. The bill, feet, and naked skin are 

 dark olive, darkest on the legs and feet. 



The Juvenal plumage appears first on the back, flanks, neck, and 

 head, in about that order; then the flight feathers burst their sheaths. 



