SPREAD OF THE CATTLE EGRET — SPRUNT 263 



follows : 10, August, about 10 kilometers south of Urica ; a single, September, 

 Cantaura ; 5, October, Caicara ; 10, December, Caicara. In January 1953, a 

 flock of G was seen at Caicara and a flock of 8 about 10 kilometers south of 

 Urica, Anzoategui. 



Surinam. — In the Aul?:, vol. 64, p. 143, 1947, Haverschmidt records 

 by sight observation the first instance of the species in Surinam. He 

 saw the bird near Nieuw Nickerie, March 10, 1946. On March 30, 

 1947, he obtained a male, this specimen being now in the Museum of 

 Zoolog}', University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Auk, vol. 70, p. 364, 

 1953). Haverschmidt refers to the above in his article in Audubon 

 Magazine as follows : 



lu this country (Surinam, Dutch Guiana) it reaches, as far as we know, its 

 present southern limit in South America. . . . By December 1946 it became ap- 

 parent to me that the cattle egret was quite a numerous bird in the cultivated 

 coastal area of Surinam, wherever cattle were kept. . . . 



Most of them roosted in the bushes along the Surinam River opposite Para- 

 maribo. The greatest number of birds that I counted in this roost was about 

 GOO. . . . The Hindustani peasants were astonished at this strange fellow who 

 came stalking the birds with a gun, and loudly protested against my wish to col- 

 lect specimens for the scientific record. ... In the Nickerie district . . . the 

 birds have certainly increased since I first saw them in 194G. Here they have 

 a large roost in the low bushes bordering the Nickerie River. ... In the late 

 afternoon of May 28, 1953, I counted 1,112 birds using this roost. 



Colomhia. — The first cattle egret recorded for Colombia was a fe- 

 male secured at Punto Muchimbo, Valle, on the lower Rio San Juan, 

 January 3, 1951. It was immature. The specimen was listed as an 

 addition to Colombia by Alexander Wetmore (Additional forms of 

 birds from Colombia and Panama, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 117, 

 No. 2, p. 1,1951). 



R. M. de Schaunesee (Birds of Colombia, Caldasia, vol. 5, p. 1144, 

 1952) records another specimen taken at Chia, Bogota plateau of the 

 eastern Andes, at an elevation of 2,562 meters. It was obtained No- 

 vember 25, 1951. About a month later a bird was seen near the 

 Caribbean coast in the lower Rio Magdalena region (Palmar de 

 Varela, Atlantico) , the date being December 30, 1951. 



Dugand (Lozania, No. 8, pp. 1-7, January 1954) has recently sum- 

 marized the Colombian records and has added additional cases to the 

 ones given above, showing that the bird has increased and spread 

 rapidly in northern Colombia. 



Z^ofe'ym.— Niethammer (Journ. Ornithol., vol. 96, pp. 222-223, 1955) 

 reports a specimen taken at Irupana, Yungas, 1,950 meters elevation, 

 on December 3, 1953. 



Netherlands West Indies. — Wliile in service with the U. S. Navy, 

 W. H. Drury, Jr., saw the cattle egret at the island of Aruba in 1944 

 (Auk, vol. 70, p. 365, 1953) . 



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