64 Bird - Lore 



ing-place on the Atlantic Coast is in North Carolina, down close to the south- 

 ern boundary line. Large areas in Florida, where, in years gone by, the birds 

 were more abundant than in any other place in the United States, are now 

 devoid of either species, except now and then a rare straggler. After the nest- 

 ing season, a few Egrets wander northward. Thus, in the summer of 1911, 

 several were seen in Massachusetts, some of them being photographed by Dr. 

 Geo. W. Field, of Boston. If the colonies along the south Atlantic Coast can 

 be guarded and the traffic in plumes suppressed, there seems every reason to 

 beUeve that the birds will again extend their natural breeding-range north- 

 ward, until they once more inhabit suitable regions in the neighborhood of 

 New York. 



Egrets feed chiefly in the rice-fields, and about the marshy borders of ponds, 

 lakes and streams. When the period of nidification arrives, they usually 

 retire to the depths of more or less inaccessible swamps, and there, in company 

 with other Herons, assemble to build their nests on the horizontal limbs of 

 the cypress or willow trees. 



The eggs range from three to five in number. These are blue in color, 

 and are laid on a frail platform of sticks and twigs which the birds gather in 

 the neighborhood. For food, frogs, snakes, fish, and other aquatic forms of 

 life, are ready at hand. 



Egrets are not regarded as of very great economic value as destroyers 

 of obnoxious insects. This, however, is no reason why they do not deserve our 

 protection. The pure, glossy whiteness of their plumage and the elegance of their 

 form and movement are sufficient reasons for preserving these Hving objects of 

 statuary of the southern marshes, even as civilized man preserves in the home 

 and in the forum the marble statues, carved by the hands of inspired artists. 



The Audubon workers, by constant agitation and an immense amount of 

 labor, have succeeded in securing the passage of laws which prohibit the sale 

 of these birds in the states of New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Ohio, Mis- 

 souri, Massachusetts, Oregon, and California. This is only a beginning in the 

 line of legislation for suppressing the trafiic in their feathers, for the sale still 

 goes on in every city of any size in the other states of the Union. 



Even where the trade in aigrettes is now declared to be illegal, there are 

 frequent evidences of violation of the law; for so valuable and so alluring are 

 the profits, that many annually run the risk of prosecution in order to deal in 

 the feathers. The price of aigrettes has gone up and up, until today prime 

 feathers are actually worth more than twice their weight in gold. 



As the birds have become exterminated in the United States, the millinery 

 feather agents have turned their attention to the tierra caUente of Mexico, and 

 the rivers of South America. Here, in the swamps of the hot countries, the 

 feather-gatherers are to be found every year. It is such a profitable industry 

 that the fortunate hunter who gets possession of one of the big colonies, or 

 garzeros, usually guards it with jealous care, and his gun is turned against all 



