REDDISH EGRET. 415 



took more than an hour to catch eight or nine of them, for they moved so 

 fast and stealthily through the mangroves, always making for the closest 

 and most tangled parts, that a man was obliged to keep his eyes constantly 

 on a single individual, which it was very difficult to do, on account of the 

 number of birds crossing each other in every direction. They do not fly 

 until they are six or seven weeks old, and even then do not venture be- 

 yond the island on which they have been reared. In captivity, those 

 which we had procured feed freely, and soon became tolerably docile. 

 They were supplied with pieces of green turtle and other species of the 

 tribe, and some of them reached Charleston in good health. One con- 

 tinued alive for nearly two years with my friend the Rev. John Bach- 

 man. It was allowed to walk in the garden and poultry-yard, and ate 

 an enormous quantity of small fish and all sorts of garbage, contenting 

 itself, when better food was scarce, with the entrails of fowls, and even 

 fed freely on moistened corn-meal or mush. It caught insects with great 

 dexterity, and was very gentle and familiar, frequently going into the 

 kitchen, where it was a great favourite. It had acquired a crest and a 

 few of the pendent feathers of the back by the month of January, when 

 about twenty-two months old. One cold night, it was accidentally neglect- 

 ed, and in the morning was found dead, having shared the fate of so many 

 thousands of pet birds in all parts of the world. On being opened, it Avas 

 found to be a male. Although I have not been able to trace the gradual 

 changes of colour which this species undergoes, I have little doubt that 

 it will be found to attain maturity the third spring after birth. 



The Reddish Egret rarely associates with others ; nor does it suffer 

 them to nestle on the same island with itself In this respect, it differs 

 from all other Herons with which I am acquainted; for although the Great 

 White Heron, A. occidentalis, has a decided antipathy to the Great Blue 

 Heron, still it now and then allows a few to breed on the north side of its 

 island. The present species is as strictly marine as the Great White 

 Heron ; and these are the only two that are so, for all the others feed on 

 fresh-water fishes, not less than on those obtained in salt-water, as well as 

 on other food of various kinds. Like all others, the Reddish Egret 

 loses its ornaments soon after incubation, when old and young mix, and 

 follow their occupations together. When wounded, it strikes with its bill, 

 scratches with its claws, and, throwing itself on its back, emits its rough 

 and harsh notes, keeping all the while its crest erected and expanded, 

 and its feathers swelled out. Its principal food consists of fishes of vari- 



