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 Tiu-key Buzzards and 

 the Crows commit dreadful havoc among its young, as well as those of 

 the other species. My friend John Bachman 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 Benjamin Logan, S. Lee, 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 to a 

 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." 



Ardea Egbetta, GiDiel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 629.— Lath. Ind. Omith. vol. ii. p. 694. 



Ardea alba, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 304. 



Great White Heron, Ardea Egretta, WUs. Amer. Ornith. vol, vii. p. 106, 



pi. 61, fig. 1. 

 Arde\ Egretta, Wagler,Syst. Avium, — Great White Heron, iV«ttaW, Manual, 



vol. ii. p. 47. 

 Ardea Leuce, Illiger, Lichtenstein. 



Adult Male in Summer. Plate CCCLXXXVL 

 Bill much longer than the head, straight, compressed, tapering to a 

 point, the mandibles nearly equal. Upper mandible with the dorsal line 



