NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 165 



shoals in the lagoons, where they stand motionless watching for their 

 prey or walk about slowly in search of it, until the rising tide forces 

 them to leave. Mr. Calm (1923), however, writes: 



Just where the old birds went for food is a question. On a quiet evening 

 hundreds of them would be seen standing in the shallow water that surrounds 

 their island, but the birds remained almost motionless in the red glow of the set- 

 ting sun, and there was little evidence that they caught their food so near home. 

 On the contrary, with the approach of evening and the lessening of the intensity 

 of the sun, the birds usually took wing and disappeared in small groups to the 

 southwest, in which direction undoubtedly lay their feeding ground. The food 

 consists of a small fish and frogs, tadpoles, and an occasional crustacean, which 

 are probably caught in the marshes of the mainland coast. Before dark the 

 birds were all back and at the nest, and there was relatively little night activity. 

 With the daylight the birds would fly away once more to the feeding grounds, 

 returning again before the heat of the sun was sufficiently intense to endanger 

 their precious eggs or babies. Then followed another period of inactivity dur- 

 ing which the birds remained close to the nest, preening their wonderful feathers 

 or playing at repelling intruders. 



Behavior. — In flight the reddish egret is very light, graceful and 

 easy, as well as strong and rather swift. In the white phase, with 

 its long plumes, it somewhat resembles the American egret, but it 

 appears shorter and stouter and its wing strokes are not so long and 

 slow. Its particolored bill is a good field mark, as it is conspicuous 

 at quite a distance. On the ground it walks with deliberate grace 

 and elegance. It is an adept on balancing itself on the insecure 

 perches it finds on the slender tops of the bushes, where it nests. It 

 is interesting to watch it swaying in the strong breeze, which gen- 

 erally prevails on the Texas coast, maintaining its balance by slight 

 adjustments of its supple frame; only occasionally are its broad wings 

 brought into play. 



A curious habit is referred to by Mr. Cahn (1923) as follows: 



They will stand at the very edge of the nest sometimes by the hour, simply 

 for the purpose of warding off the supposed attacks of neighboring egrets that are 

 likewise amusing themselves by repelling imagined intrusions. Bristling, with every 

 feather erect, they jab viciously at the object of their attack, or simply endeavor, by 

 a full display of plumage, to overawe the innocent offender. Thus they pass the 

 time defending their nests against entirely theoretical attacks of their neighbors, 

 whose one idea often is simply to slip back to their eggs as unobtrusively as 

 possible. 



I have never heard any notes from this species but the usual gut- 

 tural croaks, but T. Gilbert Pearson (1922) refers to another, of 

 which he says: 



One very characteristic note of the reddish egret, which I noticed, both at the 

 rookeries and on the feeding grounds, is a bugle like cry decidedly more musical 

 in its nature than the ordinary heron squawk. 



Enemies. — ^Evidently the reddish egrets of the Florida coast were 

 exterminated by plume hunters. Their nuptial plumes are long and 



