142 



FLORIDA BIRD-LIFE 



flying about the rookery without actually leaving it. On 

 landing, we found that the Spoonbills and American Egrets 

 had nests with eggs. Probably also the Snowy Egrets were 

 nesting but we did not succeed in identifying their eggs. The 

 season was less advanced than we had hoped to find it, but 

 a later visit would doubtless have shown us only a scene of 

 devastation, and we considered ourselves fortunate in find- 

 ing an exceptionally large number of ' ' White ' ' birds. 



Snowy Egrets 



Their presence was attributed in part to the prolonged 

 drouth which had resulted in the desertion of other rook- 

 eries, in part to molestation elsewhere. 



It is difficult to study and photograph satisfactorily the 

 home-life of birds which nest in mangroves. They cannot be 

 seen well from below, while the foliage screens them from 



