604 GREAT AMERICAN EGRET. 
soon after the appearance of the young. I know a person who, on of- 
fering a double-barrelled gun to a gentlemen near Charleston, for one 
hundred White Herons fresh killed, received that number and more 
the next day. 
The Great Egret breeds in company with the Anhinga, the Great 
Blue Heron, and other birds of this family. The Turkey Buzzards and 
the Crows commit dreadful havoc among its young, as well as those of 
the other species. My friend Joun Bacuman gives me the following 
account of his visit to one of its breeding places, at the ‘“* Round O,”a 
plantation about forty miles from Charleston : ‘‘ Our company was com- 
posed of Bensamin Locan, S. Ler, and Dr Martin. We were desir- 
ous of obtaining some of the Herons as specimens for stuffing, and the 
ladies were anxious to procure many of their primary feathers for the 
purpose of making fans. The trees were high, from a hundred toa 
hundred and thirty feet, and our shot was not of the right size ; but we 
commenced firing at the birds, and soon discovered that we had a pros- 
pect of success. Each man took his tree, and loaded and fired as fast 
as he could. Many of the birds lodged on the highest branches of the 
cypresses, others fell into the nest, and, in most cases, when shot from 
a limb, where they had been sitting, they clung to it for some time 
before they would let go. One thing surprised me: it was the length 
of time it took for a bird to fall from the place where it was shot, and 
it fell with a loud noise into the water. Many wounded birds fell some 
distance off, and we could not conveniently follow them on account of the 
heavy wading through the place. We brought home with us forty-six 
of the large White Herons, and three of the great Blues. Many more 
might have been killed, but we became tired of shooting them.” 
Anpra Ecrerra, Gmel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 629.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 694. 
ARDEA ALBa, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 304. 
Great WHITE Heron, Arprea Ecretrta, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol, vii. p. 106, 
pl. 61, fig. 1. 
ArpeEaEcretta, Wagler, Syst. Avium,—Grear WHITE Heron, Vutiall, Manual, 
vol. ii. p. 47. 
Arpga Levcg, Illiger, Lichtenstein. 
Adult Male in Summer. Plate CCCLXXXVI. 
Bill much longer than the head, straight, compressed, tapering to a 
point, the mandibles nearly equal. Upper mandible with the dorsal line 
