Cfje Bububon ^octette* 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 



Edited by T. GILBERT PEARSON, President 



Address all correspondence, and send all remittances, for dues and contributions, to 



the National Association of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. 



Telephone, Columbus 7327 



T. Gilbert Pearson, President 

 Theodore S. Palmer, First Vice-President William P. Wharton, Secretary 

 Frederic A. Lucas, Second Vice-President Jonathan Dwight, Treasurer 



Samuel T. Carter, Jr., Attorney 



Any person, club, school or company in sympathy with the objects of this Association may become 

 a member of it, and all are welcome. 



Classes of Membership in the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild 

 Rirds and Animals: 



$5 annually pays for a Sustaining Membership 

 $100 paid at one time constitutes a Life Membership 

 Si ,000 constitutes a person a Patron 

 $5,000 constitutes a person a Founder 

 $25,000 constitutes a person a Benefactor 



Form of Bequest: — I do hereby nive and bequeath to the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals (Incorporated), of the City of New York. 



NOTES ON THE EGRET SITUATION 



In May, 192 1, the writer made a brief 

 survey of a portion of the Florida Heron and 

 Egret colonies in which we have for some 

 time been interested. Those visited, seven- 

 teen in number, are situated in the counties 

 of Levy, Alachua, Bradford, Putnam, and 

 Marion. 



Eight years ago a trustworthy agent ad- 

 vised that Egrets could be found in all of 

 these, and a few years later the writer veri- 

 fied this report in a number of instances. 

 The Association has been employing guards 

 each spring to protect these breeding-places, 

 seven men having charge of the seventeen 

 colonies. 



It was a great disappointment to find last 

 year that Egrets remained in only two of 

 them and the other species of Herons, viz., 

 Louisiana, Little Blue, and Black-crowned 

 Night Herons, chiefly, had become greatly re- 

 duced in numbers. Some of these places that 

 a few years before contained at least a thou- 

 sand birds of various species, were now found 

 to be the nesting-home of less than fifty indi- 

 viduals, and in some cases not half this num- 

 ber were present. One of the two colonies 

 that contained Egrets, viz., the rookery 

 situated at Micanopy in charge of S. Elliott 

 Bouknight, had only one Snowy Egret, al- 



(if 



though a few years ago I found a number of 

 representatives of this species, as well as the 

 large Egret inhabiting the place. 



The only other place where Egrets were 

 found in numbers was on Bird Island, Orange 

 Lake, Alachua County. This is a bird reser- 

 vation, or sanctuary, made so by the Asso- 

 ciation years ago when we purchased the 

 Island, and have since carefully guarded it 

 during the breeding season. It is in charge 

 of M. N. Gist, of Mcintosh, and the $200 

 paid him annually for looking after the birds 

 during the three months they inhabit the 

 Island has for some time past been graciously 

 provided by one of our loyal members, Mrs. 

 Charles Douglass. Warden Gist lives and 

 has his place of business within a mile of the 

 Island, and from his wharf could readily see 

 anyone who approached the nesting birds. 

 Furthermore, he and his employees are con- 

 tinually on and about the lake, which is very 

 large and affords a considerable portion of 

 the feeding territory used by the birds. Be- 

 cause of this latter fact, the Orange Lake 

 colony has fared better than any of the other 

 rookeries in central Florida. 



The only other Florida Egret colony that 

 we guarded in the year 192 1 is located in St. 

 Lucie County. Warden L. Ashburner was 



2) 



