WHITE AND SNOWY EGRETS ior 
WHITE EGRET AND SNOWY EGRET 
Ardea egretta : A. candidissima 
Entire plumage snow-white in both species. Length of White Egret 
35 inches; length of Snowy Egret 24 inches. 
THESE two species are found in South, Central, and 
North America; but the larger bird has a greater 
range, being found from Nova Scotia to Patagonia. 
The small Snowy Egret abounds most in the hot 
and warm regions, and is quite common on the 
pampas but rare in Patagonia. It is more gregarious 
and social in its habits than the White Egret and is 
usually seen in flocks and associates with Ibises, 
Spoonbills, and other aquatic birds. 
On the pampas, owing to the absence of forests, 
the nesting habits, like those of the Cocoi and other 
Herons, have been modified, for there it nests among 
the bulrushes and sedges. I take the following account 
of a heronry on the pampas from a paper by Mr. 
Ernest Gibson. He was so fortunate as to find both 
species breeding together in considerable numbers. 
“In November of 1873 I found a large breeding 
colony of Ardea egretta, A. candidissima, and Nycti- 
corax obscurus in the heart of a lonely swamp. The 
rushes were thick, but had been broken down by 
the birds in a patch some fifty yards in diameter. 
There were from 300 to 400 nests, as well as I could 
judge; of these three-fourths were of A. egretta, and 
the remainder, with the exception of two or three 
dozen of WN. obscurus, belonged to A..candidissima. 
