The Audubon Societies 



183 



in charge. In his report of the birds resorting 

 there last year he estimated that the following 

 species were present in the numbers given: 

 Snowy Egrets, 200; Little Blue Herons, 1500; 

 White Ibises, 1,000; and a few Ward's Herons. 



The birds in the other colonies mentioned 

 have been shot on their feeding-grounds. 

 Usually they come together for nesting pur- 

 poses in some pond in the swamps or thick 

 woods, from which place they fly to prairies 

 and lake-shores over regions many miles in 

 extent. It is here and not in the rookeries 

 that the birds had been killed. We had not 

 the means to protect their feeding-grounds 

 so the birds had to succumb, not simply to 

 the plume-hunters, but chiefly, it is believed, 

 to the guns of the thousands of tourists that 

 now travel by automobile and camp through 

 Florida in winter. 



These birds have a natural enemy in the 

 form of the Fish Crow. These black nest- 

 robbers stay about the colonies and the mo- 

 ment the eggs are left exposed by the depar- 

 ture of a parent bird they slip in, seize an egg 

 each, and fly away. I have personally seen 

 Fish Crows do this on dozens of occasions 

 and under nearby trees have found scores 

 of broken egg-shells. 



With men killing the birds on the feeding- 

 grounds, and the Crows stealing their eggs 

 from the nests, the species cannot survive, 

 and the Heron family is rapidly approaching 

 extermination in central Florida. 



Following this field-work I proceeded to 

 Leesburg in Lake County. Securing a small 

 boat, I crossed Lake Griffin and went down 

 the Oklawaha River to the St. Johns, a dis- 

 tance of perhaps 175 miles. Among the upper 

 reaches of the river four colonies of water- 

 birds were found, the most numerous species 

 being the Water Turkey. In one of these, on 

 Lake Griffin, numerous Florida Cormorants 

 were nesting. All of them contained Ward's, 

 Little Blue, Louisiana, and Black-crowned 

 Night Herons. In not one of these rookeries 

 was a white Egret of either species observed, 

 only one or two large Egrets were seen 

 during the entire course across the lake 

 and down the river, and not one Snowy 

 Egret was observed. 



In addition to the above, the Association, 

 last year, guarded three colonies of Herons, 



including Egrets, in Louisiana, one in South 

 Carolina, and one in North Carolina. On 

 Orton Plantation, near Wilmington, N. C, 

 there is another colony of Herons containing 

 both species of Egrets. I have visited this 

 place frequently at intervals since first dis- 

 covering it in 1898. This is carefully pro- 

 tected by Mr. James Sprunt, a member of 

 the Association. 



Another of our niembers, E. A. Mcllhenny, 

 has a colony in a pond near his house at Avery 

 Island, La., which he is personally responsible 

 for having built up to its present large pro- 

 portions. Snowy Egrets breed here, possibly 

 to the extent of a thousand pairs, and con- 

 stitute the largest group of this species in the 

 United States of which we have knowledge 

 at the present time. 



In May, 192 1, I spent some days as the 

 guest of Andrew Carnegie, 2d, on Cumber- 

 land Island, Ga. This is the most southern 

 of the Georgia islands and has been a bird 

 and game preserve since it came into the 

 hands of Mr. Carnegie's father, Thomas M. 

 Carnegie, about forty years ago. At the time 

 of my visit numerous Snowy Egrets and 

 large American Egrets were seen, but owing 

 to the low water in the pond where they 

 ordinarily nested, they had that year taken 

 up their abode farther back in one of the 

 island swamps which Mr. Carnegie regarded 

 as inaccessible and which we tlierefore had 

 not the opportunity to explore. There is no 

 doubt however that there are a considerable 

 number of both species of white Egrets breed- 

 ing here and as the Carnegies protect the 

 entire island which includes the feeding 

 territory of the birds the prospects for 

 the continued welfare of them is indeed 

 bright. 



The Present Season 



Last year the outlook for the future of the 

 white Egrets in eastern United States seemed 

 discouraging. After twelve years of earnest 

 eS'ort on our part it looked as though we had 

 been fighting a losing battle and there ap- 

 peared to be no chance of ever bringing back 

 these marvelous birds to anything like their 

 former numbers. The Association's tremen- 

 dous success in guarding Gulls and Terns 

 along the Atlantic Coast evidently was not 



