THE CITY OF THE LONGLEGS 189 



with their nests, were found. They were nearly as tall as 

 the great blues, but the special feature of their appearance 

 was their coverings of beautiful snowy feathers. These 

 birds were American egrets. Long white plumes growing 

 on their backs and extending far beyond their tails also 

 added to their attractiveness. I like to think of these grace- 

 ful creatures as the queens of that city. 



Wishing to get a peep into the private life of the heronry, 

 we concealed our boat among the low trees and screened our 

 bodies with long gray moss and cypress boughs. Scarcely 

 were we hidden when the herons began to return to their 

 homes. While we were watching, a crow flew up and 

 alighted near a nest containing eggs. After a wicked 

 glance around he thrust his beak into an egg, and, flying 

 with it but a short distance, perched and deliberately began 

 to eat its contents. Finishing his egg the rascal wiped his 

 bill on the limb, looked about for a minute or two, and then 

 came back for another one. The distressed heron whose 

 nest was being plundered, squawked a timid resentment 

 and moved away as the intruder approached. That day we 

 saw five or six crows thus engaged in pilfering the homes 

 o.f the defenseless herons. 



It was meal time with each brood of longlegs whenever 

 a parent arrived from the rice fields. The curious manner 

 in which the young were fed was one of the most interest- 



