SPREAD OF THE CATTLE EGRET — SPRUNT 269 



November brought another new locality into the North American 

 scene — the island of Bermuda. Writing under date of November 29, 

 1953, Miss Patricia Browne of "Leeholme," Devonshire, reports the 

 following : 



I would like to report the presence in these islands of at least three cattle 

 egrets. It is the first time that they have been recorded here. ... On November 

 12 while passing a field, my attention was drawn to what I thought were im- 

 mature little blue herons. I became curious however, as they were feeding very 

 close to several cows. I rushed home and re-read the article by F. Haverschmidt 

 in the Audubon Magazine. ... I returned to the field and had a careful look. 

 The three birds . . . had a heavy, yellow bill and dark legs. ... I was able to 

 take photographs of the bird with the cow but only from a distance . . . The 

 owners of the cows said that they had noticed three of these birds during the 

 past two weeks, always in close association with the cows. One reported seeing 

 them perch on the cow's back. 



Miss Browne very kindly sent me several pictures and the bird 

 shown is without doubt Buhulcits ibis. 



The year 1953 ended with an astonishing illustration of the wander- 

 ing of this species. On December 8, a farmer near Brownfield (near 

 Portland), Maine, killed a strange bird which he said was "disturbing 

 the chickens." He took it to a Portland taxidermist who mounted it 

 and placed it in his window. I was advised of this remarkable inci- 

 dent by Christopher M. Packard of the Portland Society of Natural 

 History in a letter dated December 18, 1953. The specimen was pre- 

 sented to the Gorham State Teachers College by Chief Game Warden 

 Elmer Ingraham. 



1954. — I went to Okeechobee early in January and was there until 

 the end of April, conducting the twelfth season of the Audubon wild- 

 life tours. Cattle egrets were seen this year a month earlier than last. 

 Except for the first tour (January 12-13) the species was seen on every 

 trip through the month of April. This probably indicates that it is 

 now so well established on the north shore of Lake Okeechobee as to be 

 a permanent resident. 



Early in 1954 the cattle egret appeared again in the lower Florida 

 Keys. Under date of January 26, Harry E. Stiles of Grand Rapids, 

 Mich., who had been in Okeechobee earlier that month, wrote me that 

 on a subsequent trip to the Keys he had seen and talked to Jack 

 Watson, the biologist in charge of the protection of the Key deer. 

 Watson had seen and watched three birds in his deer area (Big Pine, 

 Torch, and Cudjoe Keys) for several days. No exact date was given, 

 except that it had transpired shortly before Stiles arrived in the area. 

 The birds had disappeared shortly before, but Watson had found a 

 fourth dead on the highway a few days previously. It developed that 

 this specimen had been frequenting the shoulders of the road and feed- 

 ing on insects disturbed by passing cars until eventually struck and 

 killed ! An interesting adaptation to conditions. 



