THE



323



Avicultural Magazine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF

THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Third Series. —Vol. VIII.—No. 12 .—All rights reserved. OCTOBER, 1917.



MY EGRETS.


By Hubert D. Astley.


They arrived in July, 1910, looking decidedly the worse for

wear, their wing feathers broken, their mien dejected. Two Lesser

white egrets from South America (Ardea gazetta, I presume); and

with them were two small dark grey egrets, one of which was a

corpse when the box was opened, and the other one following suit

a few hours afterwards. Horrible ! The little white ones were

allowed to walk out on the verge of the ponds, for seeing they were

very tame, I felt they would not leave the water’s edge.


They rapidly improved, putting on flesh and washing off

some of the dirt with which their feathers were stained. They

managed to reach a small island situated in the centre of a small

and shallow pond, where they roosted on willow houghs overhanging

the water, and about a foot from the surface. And thus, until cold

autumnal days, when I caught them to put them of a night in an

inner apartment of the aviary, which is used as a hospital, where

hot pipes warm the air in the winter. On mild days—there were

not many—I turned the egrets out for a few hours, hut before dusk

they always came back, and if the outer door of the aviary was

closed, they stood outside at the top of a flight of four steps, waiting

to he let in. Then they walked sedately down the passage, past two

other compartments, and into their own bedroom. All the summer

they had fish—dace caught in the moat and ponds—hut with the

winter the supply ceased, and I had to give them raw rabbit.


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