EGRET 



1964 



EGRET 



scent. The presence of eglantine is thus easily 

 detected, even before it is seen. When the 

 flowers have fallen, bright rod or orange fruits 

 appear, larger than those of most roses, and 

 the bush has thus another period of beauty. 

 The sweetbrier has always been a poet's favor- 

 ite, and references to it are many. Thus 

 Shakespeare says: 



Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, 

 With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine. 



EGRET, e'gret, or eg 'ret, the French word 

 for heron, a name given especially to the 

 snowy-white species of heron from which mil- 

 liners' aigrettes have been so inhumanely ob- 

 tained. Three species are known in America, 

 the tall, handsome American egret, the little 

 white egret, which has the finest plumage, and 

 the reddish egret. All were at one time nu- 

 merous, especially in Florida, which was their 

 breeding ground. They ranged from Pata- 

 gonia as far north as Nova Scotia and Oregon. 

 The greed and inhumanity of plume hunters, 



are especially abundant. For description and 

 habits, see HERON. 



Aigrette, agret', or a'gret. Since earliest 

 times small tufts of egret plumage, mounted 



THE EGRET AT HOME 



American egrets and nesting grounds in the 

 cypress swamps of South Carolina. 



however, has nearly exterminated these beau- 

 tiful birds. Two species are known in Europe, 

 a large and a small one, and in India they 



PLUMES PREPARED FOR SALE 



with jewels, have been worn as marks of honor 

 by personages of rank in Oriental countries. 

 The fashion spread to other countries, until 

 finally aigrettes were worn -on military hats 

 and in women's hair and millinery. The de- 

 mand for these beautiful, graceful ornaments 

 grew so rapidly that the number of egrets has 

 been greatly diminished everywhere. Those 

 much-desired plumes, which grow between the 

 shoulder-blades of the birds and extend to and 

 beyond the tail, appear only in the nesting 

 season. The killing of parent birds for the 

 bridal-plumage therefore means starvation and 

 death of helpless young. Realizing the cru- 

 elty and inhumanity of such practice, various 

 countries have adopted protective legislation, 

 thus reducing the number of aigrettes offered 

 for sale and increasing their price. An ounce 

 of egret plumes has brought $54 in the London 

 market. 



In India, however, a humane method of 

 obtaining aigrettes has been discovered and 

 adopted, and the aigrette industry has become 

 very profitable there. Egrets are bred in cap- 

 tivity. The plumes, or aigrettes, are plucked 

 just as are those of ostriches, without injury 

 to the bird. When about a week old the young 

 are taken away from the parents and are 

 reared by hand. The parents then breed 

 again, and aigrettes are in that way obtained 

 four times a year. M.S. 



