SNOWY HERON 



197. Eyretta candidissima. 24 in. 



Plumage white; in breeding season with numerous 

 recurved plumes growing from the middle of the back; 

 long crest of plumes on the back of the head, and on 

 the breast. Bill black, greenish at the base and about 

 the eyes; legs black; feet yellow. This species is the 

 most beautiful of the Egrets and consequently is the one 

 that has suffered most from " plume hunters." Al- 

 though they are now protected wherever they can be, 

 their ranks have been so decimated that extermination 

 is threatened within a few years; the demand for their 

 plumes is still so great that lawless men will commit 

 murder to obtain them (Warden Bradley having been 

 shot in 1905, while preventing the destruction of herons 

 in Southern Florida). 



Nest. In swamps, in company with other small her- 

 ons, the nests being frail platforms of twigs on branches 

 of trees. Eggs pale greenish-blue. 



Range. Breeding range formerly coincident with that 

 of the last, but now very rare. 



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