SPREAD OF THE CATTLE EGRET SPRUNT 271 



The eggs number three or four and measure (on an average of four) 

 1.80 by 1.35 inches. The writer is in possession of the only set of eggs 

 m the country, these being the first collected in North America. They 

 are of the same shape as other medium-sized heron eggs but are defi- 

 nitely paler, the color being a very light bluish white. No data is as 

 yet available on the incubation period but it should hardly vary from 

 the usual heron interval. 



The young are fed by regurgitation, as in the case of other species. 

 Grimes found, in his investigations of the King's Bar nesting (1953), 

 that the food was very largely insect material. No conflict has been 

 noted between the cattle egret and native herons in the three rookeries 

 where they have thus far nested. The most recent rookery found and 

 investigated was examined by Grimes and Stoddard in mid-May 1954 

 in a marshy area of Kreamer's Island, southern Lake Okeechobee. 

 In a letter dated May 27, 1954, Grimes says : 



The rookery itself contained a rock-bottom minimum of 200 nests and possibly 

 double that number . . . there were more cattle egrets than all other herons 

 combined . . . there were young in most of the nests (from newly hatched to 

 fairly well feathered) but some still held eggs. Young would average three to 

 a nest. We saw a number of broods of four and two or three sets of five eggs. 



Both he and Stoddard agreed that the number of nests would be 

 nearer 300 than 200, but the latter figure was given in order to be 

 ultraconservative. This is, of course, by long odds ilie largest rookery 

 of this species and has probably been the source of supply, so to speak, 

 for some years. 



BEHAVIOR 



Those familiar with ornithological works of the Old World will, 

 of course, be familiar with the general habits of Bvlmlcus ibis. How- 

 ever, in an entirely new range such as the United States, it may be well 

 to stress some of its habits in general. No bird is better named, 

 whether one calls it cattle egret or buff-backed heron. In view of the 

 fact that it will probably be known more generally by the former 

 designation, it is well to say that such a term is absolutely appropriate. 

 Associations between certain birds and animals will come to mind but 

 none is more striking than in this instance. 



As Haverschmidt says, it is not a bird of mangroves and mud flats — 

 no cattle frequent such habitats and Bubulcus is attracted to cattle 

 as filings are to a magnet ! It will be recalled that Mrs. Hames won- 

 dered at the presence of the species at Key West because that area is 

 mangrove and mud flat. The actions of the bird there, as well as of 

 the individual killed along the Overseas Highway (taking insects dis- 

 turbed by motor cars), were merely adaptions to immediate environ- 

 ment. So the cattle egret is to be looked for where cattle occur. Other 

 white herons feed with cattle, sometimes alighting on their backs (I 

 have seen both snowy and immature little blues do this) , but thus far, 



