WHITE AND SNOWY EGRETS 101 

 WHITE EGRET AND SNOWY EGRET 



Ardea egretta : A. candidissima 



Entire plumage snow-white in both species. Length of White Egret 

 35 inches ; length of Snowy Egret 24 inches. 



THESE two species are found in South, Central, and 

 North America ; but the larger bird has a greater 

 range, being found from Nova Scotia to Patagonia. 



The small Snowy Egret abounds most in the hot 

 and warm regions, and is quite common on the 

 pampas but rare in Patagonia. It is more gregarious 

 and social in its habits than the White Egret and is 

 usually seen in flocks and associates with Ibises, 

 Spoonbills, and other aquatic birds. 



On the pampas, owing to the absence of forests, 

 the nesting habits, like those of the Cocoi and other 

 Herons, have been modified, for there it nests among 

 the bulrushes and sedges . I take the following account 

 of a heronry on the pampas from a paper by Mr. 

 Ernest Gibson. He was so fortunate as to find both 

 species breeding together in considerable numbers. 



' In November of 1873 I found a large breeding 

 colony of Ardea egretta, A. candidissima, and Nycti- 

 corax obscurus in the heart of a lonely swamp. The 

 rushes were thick, but had been broken down by 

 the birds in a patch some fifty yards in diameter. 

 There were from 300 to 400 nests, as well as I could 

 judge ; of these three-fourths were of A. egretta, and 

 the remainder, with the exception of two or three 

 dozen of N. obscurus, belonged to A. candidissima. 



