268 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



ever, they were present in numbers on the south shore, Stimson noting 

 35 on August 30. Cape May again showed birds that summer. John 

 K. Terres, writing under date of August 20, said, "I saw four cattle 

 egrets on August 2, 1953, at Cape May." They were in the same pas- 

 ture frequented by the birds in 1951 and 1952 (McPherson farm). 



In order to stimulate and facilitate observation in Florida, Stimson 

 prepared a "Brief Field Description" of the bird, which appeared 

 in the Florida Naturalist, vol. 26, p. 185, October 1953. Under date 

 of November 8, 1953, Mrs. Frances Hames of Key West, Fla., wrote 

 me as follows : 



I think you will be interested to know that cattle egrets are in Key West . . . 

 They are feeding on grasshoppers and dragonflies and occasionally they go to a 

 pond (fresh) across the street and get a drink of water. One bird shows a defi- 

 nite glow on the crown, otherwise they appear pure white. 



I had not expected to see the cattle egret here because he is supposed to be a 

 bird of "open cultivated country and not of the mangroves and mudflats along 

 the coast." 



There were four birds under observation by Mrs. Hames, and their 

 occurrence brings up interesting speculation. Wliere did they come 

 from? This is, of course, the southernmost record for the United 

 States, and at the same time these birds were seen in Key West others 

 were appearing in the Miami area ! Hitherto, none had been reported 

 south of Lake Okeechobee, 75 miles to the north across the Everglades. 

 At any rate, from November 8 to November 18 as many as 26 birds 

 at a time were noted near Homestead on a farm on IVIowry Drive. 

 These were watched for that period by Stimson, Willard Dilley, and 

 Joseph Moore of the Everglades Park staff, and others. Groups of 9, 

 10, 11, 12, and 18 birds were seen on various days. The smallest group 

 was 4 birds, the largest 26. 



Stimson, writing of these birds under date of November 28, 1953, 

 asks: "What is going on? Are more birds coming up from South 

 America, or are these down here going to South America?" 



On November 21, on a trip from Miami to Clewiston, and from 

 South Bay to Bear Beach, west along the southern shore of Lake 

 Okeechobee, he had counted 105 cattle egi-ets. Going east of South 

 Bay to about Pahokee, he found two groups, one of 15 birds, the 

 other of 32. Thus in that day from Bear Beach to Pahokee, he 

 counted 152 birds. Knowing what we do now regarding the breed- 

 ing of the species on the south shore of Lake Okeechobee (see below) 

 it seems certain that the numbers seen by Stimson were simply birds 

 that had nested, or had hatched, earlier in the season in that area. It 

 seems equally reasonable not to consider that any of these birds were 

 migrating southward, or that some had done so. Therefore, the Key 

 West and Homestead birds may well have been new arrivals from 

 South America. 



