192 EGRET—EIDER 
and those of the Snipe equal in size the eggs of a PARTRIDGE, Per- 
diz cinerea. Hewitson, from whom these instances are taken, 
remarks: ‘The reason of this great disparity is, however, obvious ; 
the eggs of all those birds which quit the nest soon after they are 
hatched, and which are consequently more fully developed at their 
birth, are very large.”! It must be added, though, that the number 
of eggs to be covered at one time seems also to have some relation 
to their size, and this offers a further explanation of the fact just 
mentioned with regard to the Snipe and the Partridge—the former 
being one of those birds which are constant in producing four, and 
the latter often laying as many as a dozen—for the chicks of each 
run as soon as they release themselves from the shell (see EMBry- 
OLOGY, INCUBATION). 
EGRET (French Aigreite, cognate with Italian Aghirone, and 
Provencal Aigron—Latinized LKgretta), a white HERON, remark- 
able for the tufts of long filiform feathers? which spring from the 
middle and lower part of its back, and take their name from the 
bird which produces them. A small bundle of these feathers has 
long been used among eastern nations as an ornament, and worn 
in front of the turban, caftan, or other head-dress by personages of 
high rank, being occasionally mounted with, or its form imitated 
by, precious stones ; and the gift of an “egret” so bejewelled has 
been one of the most distinguished marks of honour that could be 
bestowed by an oriental ruler upon a favourite minister or successful 
leader. The fashion has spread among western nations, and in the 
“plume” that surmounts or until lately surmounted the “busby” 
or “bearskin” of our artillery, hussars, and certain select regiments 
of foot, it verges on the ridiculous, all the grace of the original 
being lost in the horsehair that counterfeits its form. 
In Europe we have two species to which the name Egret 
properly belongs. One is of large size, the Ardea alba, the other 
much smaller, 4. garzetta. The ‘“ Egrittes” of Archbishop Neville’s 
Inthronization feast at York (temp. Edw. IV.) were no doubt 
LAPWINGS. 
EIDER (Icelandic, 4/Sur), a large marine Duck, the Somateria 
mollissima of ornithologists, famous for its down, which, from its 
1 Hewitson, op. cit. Introd. p. x. 
2 These feathers consist of fine barbs alone, without barbules, and though 
soft as silk keep their stiffness. They are assumed only just before the breeding- 
season, and hence the procuring of them destroys the birds at a most critical 
moment (see EXTERMINATION). In the “plume trade” they bear the name of 
“Ospreys” ! 
3 The ‘‘egret”’ sent by the Sultan to Nelson after the battle of the Nile is 
almost historical, and was apparently more valued by the hero than any other 
gift he got. 
