BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



59 



processes. On land our heron has also his fare, as he is no less a suc- 

 cessful angler than a mouser, and renders an important service to the 

 farmer in the destruction he makes among most of the reptiles and 

 meadow shrews. Grasshoppers, other large insects, and particularly 

 dragon-flies, he is very expert in striking, and occasionally feeds upon 

 the seeds of pond lilies, contiguous to his usual haunts. Our species, 

 in all probability, as well as the European Heron, at times preys upon 

 the young birds which may be accidentally straggling near their soli- 

 tary retreats." 



In the months of March and April, 1885, 1 examined the stomachs of 

 twenty-three of these birds which had been killed by plume-hunters in 

 Orange and Volusia counties, Florida. Twelve birds had fed entirely 

 on fish ; three had taken fish and cray-fish ; two, small snakes ; one, 

 frogs and fish; one, fish and a few feathers; one, traces of beetles, 

 Three birds were destitute of all food materials. 



From my investigations made in Florida, as well as the records in 

 the following table, I would say this heron is mainly piscivorous in 

 habit : 



Ardea egretta GMEL. 



American Egret ; Large White Crane. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The plumage of this bird is entirely white ; in the breeding season the adults have 

 the backs ornamented with long hair-like plumes, frequently so long that they 

 touch the ground when the bird stands erect ; legs and feet black ; eyes bright yel- 

 low ; bill yellow, and about five inches long ; point of upper mandible black ; meas- 

 ures, from tip to tip of wings, about five feet 



Habitat. Temperate and tropical America, from New Jersey, Minnesota and 

 Oregon south to Patagonia ; casually on the Atlantic coast to Nova Scotia. 



This beautiful bird, now chiefly found in the southern states, where 

 it is rapidly being exterminated by the heartless and money-loving 

 plume-hunters, is a rather rare and irregular migrant in Pennsylvania. 

 It occurs in this state, generally, only in the late summer and autumn, 

 when straggling individuals are seen in suitable locations, in almost 

 every quarter of the commonwealth. In former years, this species is 

 said to have reared its young in Pennsylvania. The stomach contents 

 of thirteen of these egrets, which I have examined, are here given 



