THE AMERICAN EGEET 



Twenty years have passed since I saw in Florida my 

 first Egret, but I retain a clear-cut mental picture of the 

 scene in which the bird 's snowy plumage shone with sur- 

 prising whiteness against a darkly wooded background. It 

 seemed an ethereal creature, too pure for earthly existence, 

 a veritable Bird of Paradise. Nor has subsequent familiar- 

 ity in any way decreased this impression of a certain angel- 

 ic quality, due no doubt to the dazzling purity of the bird 's 

 plumage as well as to the charm of its haunts. 



It was the large Egret, (Herodias egretta) I saw. The 

 Snowy Egret (Egretta candidissima) is a daintier, more 

 exquisite bird, but, in nature, cannot always be satisfactor- 

 ily distinguished from the young of the abundant Little 

 Blue Heron, while its much smaller size makes it a far less 

 impressive figure in the landscape than its stately rela- 

 tive. Futhermore, the Snowy Egret is a less shy bird and 

 its recurved plumes are more highly prized than the 

 long, straight ' ' aigrettes ' ' of the larger species and even 

 twenty years ago, it was a comparatively rare bird" in 

 Florida. 



My experiences, therefore, have been with the larger 

 Egret, which I have long sought to find nesting under con- 

 ditions suitable for reproduction in a Habitat Group. A few 

 nests were discovered here and there, but always, when a 

 rookery of promising size was reported, the plume-hunters 

 arrived first and word came that the * l long Whites have all 

 been shot out. ' ' 



Thus, year by year, the Egrets have decreased in num- 

 ber, and with them has gone one of the most distinguished 

 figures of the Florida wilds. The state, learning the value 

 of the treasure of which she has been robbed, has passed 



