THE 



BOTANIST. 



Vol. I. 



BINGHAMTON, N. Y., JUNE 1, 1891. 



No. VI. 



BLUE -EYED GRASS. 



BY JULIA M. HOOPER. 



Down in the sweet June meadows, 



Among the gras.ses tall, 

 I wave my lovely blossoms, 



Blossoms blue and small. 



My stems so long and slender, 

 Bend with the weight of the bee; 



And meadow pinks around me, 

 Look up my face to see. 



THE AMERICAN EGRET. 

 {Herodias alba egretta.) 



BY EDWARD FULLER, NORWICH, CONN. 



Ths only true egret which inhabits 

 this country, and by 'far the handsomest 

 of its class, is the American egret. This 

 wonderfully beautiful bird inhabits the 

 whole of the southern portion of the 

 United States, but is becoming quite 

 rare, much more so than it was ten years 

 ago, owing to the ravages made upon 

 its breeding places by collectors and 

 sportsmen, who, not being gifted with 

 that feeling of sjanpathy which the true 

 ornithologist has for birds, take all they 

 can shoot or lay their hands upon, and 

 thsn depart homeward to dream of won- 

 ders done and possibly a few dollars 

 made. 



But what are a few dollars compared 

 with the annual slaughter of our most 

 beautiful birds of the North and South ? 

 In a letter from a cousin of mine who 

 lives in Bluffton, South Carolina, he 

 says: "Cranes, egrets and herons, which 

 have always been quite plentiful here, 

 in the spring bring a big price in New 



York City, and the birds have been and 

 are still being destroyed dreadfully, so 

 that a fine adult specimen of the Amer- 

 ican egret is rarely seen except in the 

 deepest and darkest swamps." This is 

 what is continually going on; is there 

 nothing that can be done to stop this 

 ceaseless destruction ? 



As the egret finds its food mostly 

 among inundated and swampy grounds, 

 it is generally seen haunting wooded 

 swamps, marshy river-shores and sim- 

 ilar localities, and it is seldom, if ever, 

 seen in the high enclosed regions. Its 

 food consists principally of the smaller 

 mammalia, little fish, frogs, lizards, 

 snakes and large insects. 



The egret is truly a most elegant bird, 

 and is always very conspicuous as it 

 moves about the low marshy tracts 

 which it frequents when in search of 

 food. It is about three feet in length, 

 of upright carriage, and looks very se- 

 date and dignified as it stalks around 

 with its straight, sharp pointed bill, 

 which is about seven inches in length, 

 always pointed directly ahead. The 

 beautiful, loose feathers of the train, 

 which fall from between the shoulders 

 down over the back, are not fully de- 

 veloped until the egret is three or four 

 years old, and then they usually com- 

 mand a high price, being employed in 

 the decoration of head-dresses. 



The term egret comes from the French 

 word, aigrette, meaning plume. It has 

 been thought that it came from the 

 French word aigre meaning harsh, on 

 account of the harshness of the voice of 

 the bird, but probably this is merely 



