27(, REDUlSll AND PEAL'S EGRETS. 



Notes on PKAi,'ti anu Ueddish Egueis. Since writing the articles on those two species in the nid 

 edition of this work, reproduced in this on pages 140 and loO, I have had the opportunity of examining fresh 

 material and of g itheriug now facts c )nceraing tliose Iler jns. 1 give bel nv extracts from mv n ite-brok. 



"Andros, South Shore, April 2:3, 1SS4;. Shot a white Egret (A. peali) on M,in of War Bush, which 

 was a female in ordinary plumage. Later shot another fine female in the most elegant plumage that I ever 

 saw. The basal portion of the bill was of a brilliant purplish blue, thi^ e.xtending on to the naked skin 

 about the eye, where it was intensified into brilliant blue. The edges of the mandibles were purple. The 

 lees were purplish blue, black on the lower portion of the front of the tarsus, and the toes were black above. 

 The plumage was very full. This bird was sitting near a nearly completed nest. She contained eggs which 

 she would have deposited in a few days. The iris of the first bird was white : that of the secimd. white also 

 but with a dark ring around it. In the same rookery was a young bird fully fledged and about fully grown' 

 Its iris was yellow The nest was placed on the mangroves some five feet from the water, and was quite an 

 elaborate aftiur for a heron." 



'• April 30. Have obtained both species (Peals and Reddish) but they are far from being common. 

 Capt. McBridc brought me three eggs of a pair of ^Yhite Birds (Peals) which he procured in a bunch uf 

 mangroves. 



" Grassy Creek, May Oth. Specimens of both species seen. 



"West coast of Andros, May 13th. Shot two specimens in the blue plumage well mixed with white. 

 At a Heronry occupied by Yellow-crowned Night Herons I secured two blue young and Mrs. Maynard shot 

 the adult male which was in mixed plumage. At the same place I got a white bird that exhibits considerable 

 blue on the white. 



" Feb. 15, 188o. Common at Inaguain white dress. (Peals). Eggs taken." 



It has long been an undecided question with ornithologists as t) whether the wdiite and red f jrms of 

 Herons which have been named the Reddish and Peals Egrets are re.ally distinct. That is do Red birds 

 always produce red young and White birds white young. And are those plumages once acquired retained 

 for life '! Then again do birds of different colors ever mate together? 



From my observations of these birds I think that the red and white birds are distinct species. That is 

 parents of either color alone produce young of the same color as themi?elves and a plumage once acquired is 

 always retained. 



My reasons for so thinking may be gleaned from the following summary of facts. First, let me state, 

 however, that my notes on those Egrets in Florida were mainly taken twenty-five years ago, when the state 

 wos comparatively unsettled, and consequently the Herons were undisturbed. Today partly on account of 

 the rapid settlement of the country, but more particularly on account of the long and continuous persecutions 

 to which the Herons have been subjected, notes upon their range will be of comparatively little value. 



Peal's Egret was very abundant on Indian River, but the Reddish was so rare there that I fuund a 

 single specimen only in two seasons. 



The two species came together on the soutli shore of Florida among the interior keys, but even here the 

 white birds predominate. On the west coast of Florida we got nothing but Reddish Egrets, not a white birl 

 being seen. On the south shore of Andros, Bahamas, I got both species about equally common, and mixel 

 plumages. Both species occurred at Grassy Creek, but at Inagua white Egrets only were found. 



Now comes what is apparently the puzzling pan of the question, for on the west coast of Andros we got 

 birds of mixed plumage, but, be it noted, we did not find any birds of unmi.xed color, excepting'in case of the 

 young, wduch were blue, and these were the oSspring of mixed parents, both of which were secured. What 

 are we going to do with this mixed form? 



We have seen that both Peal's and the Reddish Egret are inclined to live apart from one another in 

 separate localities and when they do come together do not interbreed, hence those mixed birds are not the 

 offspring of parents of both species, although this may have been the first origin of the mixed race, but not 

 necessarily so. 



Looking back for the origin of the parent stock, it becomes evident that either Peal's or the Reddish 

 Egret came into existence first, and a study of analogous species would point to the hypothesis that the 

 colored form was the fii'st and that the wdiite phase is merely a perpetuated race of albinos brought about 



