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GREAT AMERICAN EGRET. 
ARDEA EGRETTA, GMEL. 
PLATE CCCLXXXVI. Mate. 
In the third volume of this work, I have already intimated that the 
truly elegant Heron which now comes to be described, is a constant 
resident in the Floridas, that it migrates eastward sometimes as far as 
the State of Massachusetts, and up the Mississippi to the city of 
Natchez, and, lastly, that it is never seen far inland, by which I mean 
that its rambles into the interior seldom extend to more than fifty miles 
from the sea-shore, unless along the course of our great rivers. I have 
now to add that on my way to the Texas, in the spring of 1837, I found 
these birds in several places along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, 
and on several of the islands scattered around that named Galveston, 
where, as well as in the Floridas, I was told that they spend the winter. 
The Great American Egret breeds along the shores of the Gulf of 
Mexico, and our Atlantic States, from Galveston Island in the Texas to 
the borders of the State of New York, beyond which, although stragglers 
have been seen, none, in so far as I can ascertain, have been known to 
breed. In all low districts that are marshy and covered with large 
trees, on the margins of ponds or lakes, the sides of bayous, or 
gloomy swamps covered with water, are the places to which it gene- 
rally resorts during the period of reproduction ; although I have in a 
few instances met with their nests on low trees, and on sandy islands 
at a short distance from the mainland. As early as December I have ob- 
served vast numbers congregated, as if for the purpose of making choice 
of partners, when the addresses of the males were paid in a very curi- 
ous and to me interesting manner. Near the plantation of Joun Butow, 
Esq. in East Florida, I had the pleasure of witnessing this sort of tourna- 
ment or dress-ball from a place of concealment not more than a hun- 
dred yards distant. The males, in strutting round the females, swelled 
their throats, as Cormorants do at times, emitted gurgling sounds, 
and raising their long plumes almost erect, paced majestically before 
the fair ones of their choice. Although these snowy beaux were a good 
deal irritated by jealousy, and conflicts now and then took place, the 
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