Ili:K'N> .\NF> I'.ITTI 



X"ttt, a platform of nticko. generally in colonk*, in lrcu 99*, three to 



f..ur, |.ttlr, .lull Nue, 2-50 x 1 



Is it due to the influence of the artists of the Orient that these 

 long-legged, long-necked birds aru so frequently miscalled "Cranes"! 

 With head drawn in and legs trailing on U-hind, they flap slowly over 

 the water, resembling. no doubt, tin- "Cranes" of fans, screens, and 

 bronzes ; nevertheless, they arc Herons. With all a Heron's immovable 

 alertness they watch patiently for passing fish, sometimes wading with 

 extreme caution, plating ne foot slowly after the other. Th- 

 U.th by day and night. Fishes, frogs, reptiles, even small mice, all 

 are welcome; and all are powerless to escape the lightning thrust of 

 the spcarlike bill. Their voiec is harsh and rasping. When alarm. .1 

 they utter a croak which is sometimes prolonged intoaseriesof nquatrk*. 

 They nest and roost in colonies, but at other times are solitary birds. 



The KI-BOPEAX (!KKAT Hi.i K HKI:-X i W5. Ardta rinerea) u accidental in 

 ix.uthcni (ircciilaii.l. It nmy IK- .lir-tin>;m>hcl from our upccica hy the while 

 instead of rut u." f..ithci> on UK- logs. 



196. Ardea egretta, '//-,.'. AMKIM. AN I-'... KIT. .(/'. /. '' 

 plvmaye. Entire plumugu pure while; about fifty itrttiyht u ai>jreltc" plume* 

 grow from Uio intorecapular rf(,'i<>n and nai-h h-y<>ii.l tin- tail ; K-gH ainl f' 

 black ; bill yellow ; bra OMB*| bovdwd ln-lt>w by greenish. .(/. after th* 



I Katun an>l Im. - \Vith.ut the intcrecapular plumes. L., 41 < 

 15-00; Tr^5-60; B., 4-50. 



r. Tropical aiitl temiHTutt- America; Krceds as far north a* southern 

 Virginia; iitti-r the iT.-.-.!in^ wawon aomctiinea 8tray northward 

 as far as Manitoba, Quelx-c, n<l New Hnmswi.-k. 



Washington, n->t e.>iinii'n ami in-ocular S. R., May to August Long 

 I.xlun.l, rarv fn>in July ti S. pt. Simr *i"i:. A. V. 



. a platform f sticks, in e.>!.>nie.s, in bashes overwalcr. Eggi< ihrce 

 to five, .lull blue, of a rntlur .U-cp. r shmle than thoeo of Uio preceding, 

 1-60. 



Tourists who went to Florida thirty years ago have told me of 



prairies white with K-nt-. of lm>hy i-larnls glistening in the sun like 

 snow banks. Now ymi may look for miles along a lake sin. re ami JHT- 

 haps in the tli-tance see a solitary Kgret. which, as you approach, with 

 a frightened *,>inirk takes wing a rifle-shot away. The rapid exter- 

 mination ..f ilu-e pltimc-lM-aring binls is startling evidence of man's 

 power in the animal wurltl. At his word a species is almost imme- 

 diately wi|K-<l <>ut of exi>tenee. I have heard a "plume-hunter" boast 

 of killing three hundred Herons in a "rookery" in one afteniH.n. 

 Another proudly stated that he and his companions had killed one 

 hundred ami thirty thousand binls Herons, Kgrets, and Terns dur- 

 ing ODO winter. Hut the destruction of these birds is an unpleasant 



