274 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



Small groups have been noted about Hialeali (Miami) in the pastures 

 north along State Road 27 and in the Homestead area to the south. 

 This is as far south as the bird can be expected to occur, as there are 

 no grasslands below this region. The scattered individuals noted in 

 the Keys can hardly have been anything but wanderers or perhaps 

 new arrivals from the Tropics. 



The group that nested in the Gainesville area in the spring of 

 1954 may well settle there and form a nucleus of increasing numbers. 

 There is considerable pasturage in the region, providing a conducive 

 habitat. The few occurrences of individual birds in such widely 

 scattered localities as Sarasota (west coast) and Merritt's Island (east 

 coast) are inconsequential. 



The great bulk of the population remains about Lake Okeechobee 

 in two general groups. The smallest of these occurs along the north- 

 east shore of the Lake from the Kissimmee River to the Eagle Bay 

 Ranch, a distance of some 5 miles. The writer covered this area 4 

 days a week for nearly 4 months during the winter and spring of 1954 

 on the Audubon wildlife tours, and arrived at the conclusion, sup- 

 ported by others, that it is frequented by about 50 birds. 



The larger group frequents the southern shore of the Lake from 

 about Pahokee on the east to Clewiston on the west. While it has been 

 realized for some time that the birds here far exceeded those of the 

 north shore, it was not until Grimes and Stoddard discovered the 

 Kraemer Island rookery in May 1954 that actual numbers could be 

 stated. Quoting again from Grimes' letter of May 27 — 



Right now, counting eggs and young, there are at least 1,100 or 1,200 cattle 

 egrets In the rookery, and, if you figure 300 pairs (which we hoth agreed would 

 be a more likely estimate) , there are 1,500 to 1,800. 



In the King's Bar rookery (north shore gi'oup) there were about 20 

 nests this season, which is practically double the number of 1953. 

 The production of young this season should well be 50 ; therefore, the 

 northern group may now be placed at 100. The Gainesville birds 

 thus far, including young, would hardly number more than a dozen. 

 What with a few wandering individuals here and there, it may be 

 said with a considerable degree of assurance, that the current popu- 

 lation of the cattle egret in this country as of July 1954 is very close 

 to, if not quite, 2,000 birds. 



This figure certainly bears out the belief held by Grimes that the 

 species has been in Florida much longer than was at first thought. 

 Also, it seems clear that the few birds observed in 1941 or 1942 by 

 Dilley were the first breeders. As Grimes notes in his letter, "If only 

 a single pair came originally, it would have had to be in 1943." Such 

 an assumption seems justified. 



