90 LITTLE EGEET. 



'On the wing, the Little Egret is rather quicker in flight 

 than the larger species, but in windy weather it is very helpless, 

 and is obliged to skim low over the bushes and reeds on its 

 passage from one piece of water to another. But when the 

 weather is fine, this bird may be seen, if startled up by 

 intrusion of any kind, circling up high in the air, as if 

 surveying the neighbourhood before it finally decides upon its 

 course.' 



If taken young, they are easily domesticated to a certain 

 extent, and are gentle and harmless in their manners and 

 habits. The long feathers, Bewick says, were formerly used 

 to decorate the helmets of warriors, as now the turbans of the 

 Persians and the Turks, and the head-dresses of European 

 ladies. 



They feed on fish, frogs, and other small reptiles, water 

 insects and their larvse, and worms. 'The manner in which 

 it obtains its food is by walking stealthily along shore in a 

 stooping attitude, with the head drawn back; as soon as it 

 perceives a desirable object, the Egret darts its pointed bill 

 like lightning upon it, and seldom fails to obtain its prey.' 



This species, like the others, breeds in marshy places, either 

 on the ground among reeds, or on the top of a willow stump, 

 or on the branches of a low tree, about half a dozen feet 

 from the ground. The nest is made of dry sticks and rushes, 

 flags, reeds, and grass; the latter being placed inside. 



The eggs are four or five, or six, in number, and, one 

 account says of the same white colour as the bird, or another, 

 of a pale bluish green colour. 



Male; weight, about one pound or upwards; length, one 

 foot eight to one foot ten or eleven inches, or. even two feet; 

 bill, bluish black, the base of the upper one pale ash-colour; 

 iris, yellow; the eyelids, pale green. A dependent crest, so to 

 call it, springs from the back of the head; it is composed of 

 two narrow feathers, four inches in length. Head, crown, and 

 neck, the lower part of which is also adorned with similar 

 long feathers, nape, chin, throat, breast, and back, white; hair- 

 like plumes spring from its centre, their ends curve upwards, 

 and the bird, if suddenly disturbed or alarmed, generally sets 

 them up. 



The wings have the first and fourth quill feathers equal in 

 length, the second and third the longest, and also of equal 

 length, 'inter se.' Greater and lesser wing coverts, primaries, 

 secondaries, tertiaries, greater and lesser under wing coverts, 



