Issued September 13, 1911. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY Circular No. 84. 



HENRY W. IIKNSHAW, Chief of Bureau. ^^ \l -* 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE AMERICAN EGRETS. 



P.y W. W. COOKK. 

 Assistant, Biologi<-al Surrey. 



The accompanying maps show the distribution of the two com- 

 mon white herons or " egrets," so called from the long plumes or 

 " aigrettes ' ? worn during the breeding season. The demand of the 

 millinery trade for these plumes has caused such wholesale slaughter 

 of these two species that they are almost extinct over large areas 

 where they were formerly common. The maps indicate the original 

 range of the species, before fashion decreased their numbers, and 

 therefore the range which they may be expected again to occupy if 

 sufficient protection from persecution is afforded. 



Fortunately in the case of each of these species, breeding colonies 

 still remain in the southern United States to serve as centers of dis- 

 tribution to the districts formerly included in the range. 



Each spot on the maps' represents a positive record either the cap- 

 ture of a specimen which is now preserved in one of the larger public 

 museums, notably the United States National Museum, at Wash- 

 ington, or a record, published or unpublished, now on file in the 

 Biological Survey, of the observation of the birds by persons so 

 familiar with the species as to leave no reasonable doubt of the 

 correctness of the identification. It should be understood that these 

 spots represent only a small proportion of the places at which the 

 birds actually bred. They outline the regions in which the birds oc- 

 curred and throughout which they were likely to be found in any 

 favorable locality. It should also be understood that the birds are 

 now more common than the records published during the last ten 

 years would seem to indicate. Severe persecution has driven the few 

 remaining wanderers to seek the remote uninhabited parts of the 

 country, and it is only when a bird strays into a settled region that 

 it is noted and recorded. 



EGRET. (llcrodnis rf/rrtta.) 



This egret is variously called American egret, white egret, white 

 heron, and often the great white heron, to distinguish it from the 



4846 Cir. 8411 



