134 



HERONS AND BITTERNS. 



Hil : 



subject. It is a blot on Florida's history. The subject will be found 

 fully treated by W. E. D. Scott in The Auk, iv, 1887, p. 135. 



197. Ardea candldissima Gmel. Snuwy Heron ; Snowy Eoket 

 Ad, in breeding plumage. — Kntirc pluinaije pure white ; ubout fifty recurved 

 "aigrette" plumes grow from the interscapulnr region and reucli to or just 

 beyond the end of the tail ; legs black, feet yellow, bill black, yellow at the 

 base; lores orange-yellow. Ad. after the breeding season and Iin. — Without 

 the interscapular plumes. L., 24-00 ; VV., 9-75 ; Tar., 3-80; B., 3-20. 



Hang' . — Troj)ieal and temperate America; breeds as far north as southern 

 Illinois and Long Island ; after the breeding season sometimes strays north- 

 ward as far as Ontario and Maine. 



Washington, casual; irregular in fall. Long Island, rare S. R., Apl. to 

 Sept. Sing Sing, A. V. 



I^est, a platform of sticks, in colonies, in bushes over water. Eggs, three 

 to five, pale, dull blue, 1-80 x 1,20. 



The "curse of beauty"' has numbered the days of this the most 

 dainty and graceful of Herons. Twenty years ago it was abundant in 

 the South, now it is the rarest of its family. The delicate "aigrettes" 

 which it donned as a nuptial dress were its death warrant. Woman 

 demanded from the bird its wedding plumes, and man has supplied 

 the demand. The Florida Herons have gone, and now he is pursuing 

 the helpless birds to the uttermost parts of the earth. Mercilessly 

 they are shot down at their roosts or nesting grounds, the coveted 

 feathers are stripped from their back.s, the carcasses are left to rot, 

 while the young in the nest above are starving. But then, you know, 

 the little bunch of aigrettes in yonder jaunty bonnet is " so pretty," 

 "so becoming! " 



198. Ardea rufiescens (hml. KKKmsn EdUKT. .\d., dark phase. — 

 Head and neck rufous-chestnut, glossed with vinaccous; rest of the i)lumage 

 dark bluish slate-color; about thirty "aigrette" plumes grow from tlie inter- 

 scapular region and reach beyond tlie tail ; legs and feet black. Im. — Simi- 

 lar, but without tiie " aigrette " plumes. White phane. — Similar in size and 

 form,-but entire jtlumage white, exccjit the tips of the ])rimarics, which arc 

 sometimes very finely .speckled with grayish. Jm. — Similar, . it without the 

 "aigrette" plumes. L., 21»-00; W., 12-r)0; Tar., r.-40; B., 3-00. 



AV?«(7r/x— The two cobjr phases of this bird were supposed to represent 

 two species, the white jdiasc l)ciMg called .irdea peahi Konap. They have, 

 however, Itei'ii found mated together, and intermediates or party-colored 

 Bjiecimens arc known. 



liange. — West Indies and Central America north to coasts of the Gulf 

 States; casually soutiiern Illinois. 



yed, a platfcrm of sticks, in colonics, in bushes generally over water. 

 Eggs, two to four, pale, dull blue, 1'!'5 x l-4o. 



This is, or was a few yenrs ago, a not uncommon species on the 

 coasts of southern Florida, but it is unknown in the interior. It is 



