The Spread of the Cattle Egret' 



(With particular reference to North America) 



By Alexander Sprunt, Jr. 



National Audubon Society 



[With 3 plates] 



There is certainly no one avian species that, in the twentieth century, 

 has created the sensation produced by the cattle egret {Bubulcus ibis 

 ibis) in the United States. Its presence is at once unique and without 

 precedent. At no other time in history has a bird appeared on the 

 continent of North America and become established as a breeding 

 species without man's assistance. As phenomenal as this fact is, and 

 despite the consuming interest created in the bird-minded public of 

 this country, it seems proper here to comment on the species in a world 

 sense as well as in the Americas. 



The cattle egret, cow heron, or buff-backed heron, as it is variously 

 called, occupies an extensive world range and is a wide wanderer. 

 Two varieties exist — Bubulcus ibis coromandus and Bubulcus ibis ibis. 

 The ranges of the two are as follows : 



Bubulcus ihls coromandus'^ India, Ceylon, Burma, Siam, southern 



China, Korea, soiithern .Japan, Formosa, 

 Hainan, Philippines, Sunda Islands, 

 Celebes, Ceram, Burn ; occasional in New 

 Guinea and Australia. 



Bubulcus ihis ibis Southwest Palearctic, Ethiopian and Ori- 

 ental regions. Breeds in southern Spain 

 and Portugal; in North Africa from 

 Morocco to Egypt and south of the 

 Sahara all the way to South Africa ; 

 in Asia in southwestern Arabia, Syria, 

 Transcaucasia and northern Iran ; also 

 in Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, and 

 Mauritius. Occurs on the coast of the 

 Mediterranean and Black Seas, and in 

 Iraq. Accidental in Britain, Denmark, 

 Hungary, southeastern Russia, the Ca- 

 naries, and Madeira. 



^ Valuable assistance in the preparation of this paper was rendered the writer 

 by the following: Herbert Friedmann, Willard E. Dilley, Samuel A. Grimes, 

 Herbert L. Stoddard, Louis A. Stimsuu, iiichard Bird, and Alexander Wetmore. 



*Lat. Bubulcus, concerning cattle; Gr. ibis, ibis; Lat. coromandus, crown- 

 mantle. 



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