2 RiDGWAY on a?i Apparently New Heron from Florida. 



like Teal Ducks. Two specimens of A. occidentalis were seen 

 feedino- quietly within twenty feet of one of the Herons procured 

 by me [^. ivardi, nobis]. They were feeding on a mud bar 

 at low tide. I was once concealed in the low brush near a small 

 pool watching three Louisiana Egiets chasing minnows, when 

 tw^o of them making for the same minnow squared oft' for a 

 knock-down, while the third coolly appropriated the prize, leaving 

 the combatants situated like complainant and defendant at the 

 close of a law suit. In all my observations of the Herons I have 

 seen nothing to lead to a conclusion that one of these birds held 

 any particular antipathy against its own species while feeding. 

 In the many squabbles between Herons on their feeding grounds 

 the encounters occurred quite as often between different species 

 as members of the same species. It may be that during the breed- 

 ing season they are more friendly than at other times. In order 

 that you may understand my opportunities for obsen'ing these 

 birds, I enclose a rough map of Mound Key and surroundings, 

 my camping place from January 20 till April 10. As you will 

 see by the figures marked .... it was in the midst of their 

 feeding grounds, these places being mud- and sand-bars, bare at 

 low tide. Regarding the Reddish Egret, among many thousands 

 of them I saw only one in the pure white plumage, and no white 

 young ; but one of my dark specimens has white feathers on the 

 head and in the tail, while one of the secondary quills has the 

 outer web chiefly white. My companion of last wintei-'s Florida 

 trip reports that he saw no Reddish Egrets with white except 

 on the secondaries. 



"Regarding the large Herons \_i.e.^ A. wardi^, I am mucli 

 inclined to think them a geographical variety. . . . the speci- 

 mens being very uniforin in color. ... I examined some thirty 

 nests at least, fifteen of which contained young, all being dark 

 colored, zuzl/i one exception. These birds are common in South- 

 western Florida, and their nests ai^e frequently found along the 

 coast. From all the information at my command, connected 

 with my own observations, I am almost convinced that the bird 

 in question is separate and distinct from A. occidentalis and A. 

 wurdemanni., and the fact that Audubon found the former in im- 

 mense numbers among the mangrove islands of Eastern Florida 

 is strong evidence that he happened in the vicinity of one of 

 their rookeries. As you will observe by examining the diagram 



