Herons of the United States 311 



About sixty nests were counted and not one individual in the adult blue 

 plumage was observed. 



The dull blue eggs are generally four or five in number and it is supposed 

 to require about three weeks for them to hatch. Herons are very noisy birds 

 around the rookeries, and especially when the young have hatched and grown 

 strong enough to add their clamor to the general uproar, the cries may be 

 heard at times for several hundred yards. 



The chief natural enemy of this species, as well as of our other southern 

 Herons, is the Fish Crow. Numbers of these black bandits stay in the neigh- 

 borhood of every rookery. In fact they light among the bushes and, hopping 

 from limb to limb, peep and watch until they see a Heron leave its eggs and 

 then, often before its mate can take its place, the Fish Crow dashes in, thrusts 

 its bill into an egg, and with it thus transfixed, flies away to some favorite 

 limb to enjoy its ill-gotten booty. 



Little Blue Herons, in common with the other Herons of our southern 

 rookeries, are almost always known as Cranes. You will hear them spoken 

 of as 'White Cranes,' or 'Blue Cranes,' or 'Spotted Cranes.' In eastern North 

 Carolina this species is frequently called the 'Scoggen.' 



SNOWY EGRET [Egretta candidissima candidissima) 



Description. — ^The plumage of this Heron is pure white, (see Plate I, 

 No. 6). Growing from the region of the upper back are about fifty delicate 

 plume feathers known in the millinery trade as 'cross aigrettes.' These usually 

 are about 8 or 9 inches in length and recurved at their tips. They constitute 

 a distinctive nuptial adornment, although, as a rule, they are not shed for a 

 considerable time after the young have left the nest. Mr. Lee Crandall tells 

 me that Snowy Egrets kept in captivity in the New York Zoological Gardens 

 acquire their plumes in December, and that with the exception of the loss of 

 an occasional feather, they are not shed until about September i. This state- 

 ment, of course, refers to birds kept in unnatural conditions. The exact length 

 of time in which they are worn in the state of nature has, so far as I am aware, 

 never been fully determined. 



The bill of the Snowy Egret is very black, with a little yellow at the base. 

 The legs also are black and the feet are bright yellow. From the end of the 

 tail to the bill-tip, this bird measures about two feet. 



Range. — The principal range of the Snowy Egret is tropical and sub- 

 tropical America, though to some extent it also breeds in temperate regions. 

 At one time it was known as far north as New Jersey, Illinois, Nebraska and 

 Oregon. To the south it extends to Chile and Argentina. 



Due to persecution, its range in the United States has been greatly reduced. 

 For the past twelve years the National Association has exerted much effort 

 in seeking out and employing men to guard the few remaining breeding places 



