DESCRIPTIVE LIST 



99 



Genus Herodias (Boie) 

 80. Herodias egretta (Gmel.). EGRET. 



Description. Pure white; adult in breeding season with very long dorsal plumes, reaching 

 far beyond end of tail. L., 37.00-41.00; W., 14.00-17.00; T., about 6.00. 



Range. Breeds locally from North Carolina southward; winters from Florida south. In 

 summer wanders as far north as Massachusetts. Breeds in southeastern Oregon. 



Range in North Carolina. Coastal region in summer, only occasional elsewhere. 



No bird in America has so melancholy a history as the Egret. Those of us living 

 today are witnessing the passing of the race, and we doubt seriously if a single 

 individual will be alive in the United States twenty-five years hence, unless the 



FIG. 64. EGRET. 



extraordinary precautions now being taken for their protection by the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies should prove to be successful. Formerly it was 

 an abundant inhabitant of the lakes and marshes of the Southern States; today it 

 is restricted to a small number of localities in a few States. Its destruction has 

 been due to the human craving for the beautiful, long airy plumes which grow from 

 the back directly between the wings. The Audubon Societies have long fought to 

 save it. By their efforts, laws have been enacted in all the States for its protection, 

 and wardens have been employed to guard the few remaining breeding places of 

 the birds. But the demand for the "aigrette" by the millinery trade has never 

 ceased, and the lust for gold has carried the plume-hunters into the swamps, over 



