THE BIEDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 75 



The great blue heron is a solitary species except when breeding 

 when it usually gathers in colonies. It feeds in shallow bays or 

 marshes standing rigidly in the water with head bent forward, wait- 

 ing motionless for the small fishes that form its principal prey to 

 approach the surface when they are seized with a quick forward 

 thrust, held for a moment until their struggles moderate, and then 

 are swallowed. The flight is performed with a steady flapping of 

 the broad wings, with the neck drawn in against the forepart of the 

 body. 



As the great blue heron is the largest of the long-legged, long- 

 necked heron tribe in the island it can be confused with no other 

 species. In general the bird is gray, with black and white markings 

 on head and breast, and rufous tibiae. The one collected by Abbott 

 measured 1,160 mm. in length. 



CASMERODIUS ALBUS EGRETTA (Gmelin) 

 EGRET, GARZA REAL, GARZON BLANCO, CRABIER BLANC, QUOCK BLANC 



Ardea egretta Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 629 (Cayenne). 



Grande Aigrette, Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois., vol. 7, 1780, p. 378, (" Saint- 

 Domingue "). 



Grande Aigrette Blanche, Descourtilz, Voy. Nat., vol. 2, 1809, pp. 222-224 

 (common). 



Herodias leuce, Salle, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1857, p. 236 (listed). 



Ardea leuce, Bryant, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 11, May, 1867, p. 97 

 (Dominican Republic). 



Ardea egretta, Bitter, Naturh. Reis. Westind. Insel Hayti, 1836, pp. 151, 157 

 (Fort Royal, specimen).— Cory, Cat. West Indian Birds, 1892, p. 89 (Haiti, 

 Dominican Republic). — Tippenhauer, Die Insel Haiti, 1892, pp. 317, 3213 

 (listed). — Christy, Ibis, 1897, pp. 340-341 (Yuna swamps; mouth of Barran- 

 cota, breeding). 



Gasmerodius alius egretta, Beebe, Zool. Soc. Bull., vol. 30, 1927, p. 138; Be- 

 neath Tropic Seas, 1928, p. 219 (Port-au-Prince, one). — Bond, Proc. Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 80, 1928, p. 489 (Trou Caiman, specimen). 



Gasmerodius alba egretta, Danforth, Auk, 1929, p. 360 (Laguna del Salodillo, 

 Les Salines). 



Resident ; formerly common, now rare. 



Buffon includes " Saint-Domingue " in the range of this heron 

 without further comment as to locality. Salle the next earliest writer 

 to report this heron says merely that it is known as the white heron. 

 Christy in 1893 found the egret common in the Yuna swamps at the 

 head of Samana Bay, and reported a breeding colony on February 

 18, on a rocky island near the mouth of the Arroyo Barrancota, that 

 contained about one hundred birds. He speaks of shooting several 

 and says that occasionally the merchants of Sanchez sent the plumes 

 of these birds to New York for sale. Since that time the species 

 has decreased so that apparently few remain. Abbott has recorded 

 it from Lake Enriquillo near Duverge from October 1 to 6, 1919. 



