6o 



Bird- Lore 



series of 'Habitat Bird Gr()u])s,' in the American Museum of Natural History. 

 A few nests were discovered here and there, but always, when a rookery ('heronry' 

 is not used in the South) of promising size was reported, the plume-hunters arrived 

 first and word came that the "long whites have all been shot out." 



Thus year by year the Egrets have decreased in number. I miss the white 

 gleam of their plumage in the dark cypresses and over the brown marshes. With 

 them has gone one of the most distinguished figures of the Florida wilds. The 

 state, learning the value of the treasure of which she has l^ecn robbed, has jjassed 



COLLECTING A CYPRESS TREE FOR THE EGRET GROUP IN THE 

 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



Stringent laws prohibiting the killing of Egrets. So, too, she has passed laws 

 against pick-pockets, but just so k)ng as there are pockets worth picking there 

 will be some one to pick them, and just so long as Egrets' plumes are worth their 

 w^eight in gold there will be some one to supply them, until, a passing fancy 

 gratified, the last plume has found its way from the bonnet to the ash-barrel. 

 Without one promising lead to follow, I had virtually abandoned the Egret 

 hunt, when from an unexpected quarter word came of an Egret rookery credi- 

 table to the days of Audubon. It appears that, when a vast territory was acquired 

 as a game preserve by a club of sportsmen, it contained a few Egrets, survivors 

 of a once flourishing colony. After seven years of rigid protection, they and their 



