SPREAD OF THE CATTLE EGRET — SPRUNT 275 



REACTION TO SPECIES ESTABLISHMENT 



From a commercial point of view, the cattle industry should be 

 most concerned with the spread of the cattle egret. The bird is insec- 

 tivorous, and its diet consists in large part of destructive insects. Its 

 consumption of grasshoppers and other insects injurious to grass is of 

 definite benefit to pasturelands. Comparatively few cattlemen are 

 aware of the presence of the cattle egret, though they know that white 

 "cranes" are a common form of birdlife in the grasslands. Ranchers 

 in the Okeechobee region to whom the writer has tallied are glad to 

 have the birds in their pastures and would welcome an increase in their 

 numbers. 



FUTURE INCREASE AND SPREAD 



Regarding the future increase and spread of the cattle egret, little 

 can be said now. That the species is a wide wanderer has been proved 

 in this country as well as in the Old World. It is entirely likely that 

 Florida will remain the center of population for some time to come. 

 Much of that State is eminently suited to the bird's needs, with food 

 and nesting sites in abundance; and, the cattle industry being what 

 it is, the habitat will probably remain unaltered. Stoddard's opinion 

 is that it will come to be the dominant heron in certain areas and that 

 both increase and spread will be rapid. 



Occurrence of the species has been recorded, in an over-all sense, 

 from Key West to the Newfoundland Banks; the Atlantic seaboard 

 States reporting the presence of the bird are Florida, South Carolina, 

 Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine. There 

 is also one fairly credible occurrence in the Chicago region. Con- 

 sidering that appearances of the cattle egret in New Jersey and 

 Massachusetts have exceeded two each, the fact that none have as yet 

 been reported from Georgia or North Carolina seems remarkable. It 

 is to be presmned that all the northern records are of birds wandering 

 fom Florida, though the possibility exists that other i-egions may be 

 represented. Secured specimens, however, have all been Buhulcus ibis 

 ibis — not coromandus. Additional localities to those above will 

 doubtless be visited by ornithologists, perhaps in the near future,* and 

 future records obtained. 



FIELD CHARACTERS 



With the ever-increasing number of bird students throughout the 

 country and the great interest in the cattle egret, many observers are 



*The farthest-west occurrence of tlie species (except the somewhat indefinite 

 Chicago record) has been reported from Bay County, Fhi., near Port St. Joe. 

 One bird was seen there May 23, 1953, by Roy C. Hallman. This, and the bird 

 seen near Tallahassee on July 9, 1953, by Henry M. Stevenson, are the only 

 occurrences thus far west of Tallahassee. 



