548 GREAT WHITE HERON. 



goes in pursuit of them. If surprised, they leave their perch with a rough 

 croakino- sound, and fly directly to a great distance, but never inland. 



The flight of the Great White Heron is firm, regular, and greatly 

 protracted. They propel themselves by regular slow flaps, the head being 

 drawn in after they have proceeded a few yards, and their legs extended 

 behind, as is the case with all other Herons. They also now and then rise 

 high in the air, where they sail in wide circles, and they never alight with- 

 out performing this circling flight, unless when going to feeding grounds 

 on which other individuals have already settled. It is truly surprising that 

 a bird of so powerful a flight never visits Georgia or the Carolinas, nor goes 

 to the Mainland. When you see them about the middle of the day on their 

 feeding grounds they " loom" to about double their size, and present a 

 singular appearance. It is difficult to kill them unless with buck-shot, 

 which we found ourselves obliged to use. 



When I left Key West, on our return towards Charleston, I took 

 with me two young birds that had been consigned to the care of my 

 friend Dr B. Strobel, who assured me that they devoured more than 

 their weight of food per day. I had also two young birds of the Ardea 

 Herodias ahve. After bringing them on board, I placed them all toge- 

 ther in a very large coop ; but was soon obliged to separate the two species, 

 for the white birds would not be reconciled to the blue, which they would 

 have killed. While the former had the privilege of the deck for a few 

 minutes, they struck at the smaller species, such as the young of Ardea 

 nifescens and A. Ludoviciana, some of which they instantly killed and 

 swallowed entire, although they were abundantly fed on the flesh of green 

 Turtles. None of the sailors succeeded in making friends with them. 



On reaching Indian Key, I found those which had been left with Mrs 

 Egan, in excellent health and much increased in size, but to my surprise 

 observed that their bills were much broken, which she assured me had 

 been caused by the great force with which they struck at the fishes 

 thrown" to them on the rocks of their enclosure, — a statement which I 

 found confirmed by my own observation in the course of the day. It was 

 almost as difficult to catch them in the yard, as if they had never seen a 

 man before, and we were obliged to tie their bills fast, to avoid being 

 wounded by them while carrying them on board. They thrived well, and 

 never manifested the least animosity towards each other. One of them 

 which accidentally walked before the coop in which the Blue Herons were, 



