84 



Lake. On April 26, Mrs. Murphy and I met a 

 Cocopah Indian, armed with a rickety old shotgun, 

 who was stalking these herons for their plumes. 



30. Egretta candidissima candidissima. Snowy Egret. — 



One seen flying over the delta on April 1, and others 

 near Volcano Lake late in the month. They were 

 exceedingly shy, but on April 26 I managed to ap- 

 proach within two hundred feet of one as it fed in a 

 lagoon. 



There are no laws to protect the white herons of 

 Baja California, but, when granting us permipsion to 

 enter the country. Colonel Cantii, the Military Com- 

 mandant, requested us not to molest any of these 

 birds. 



A certain amount of hunting for the nuptial plumes 

 of both species of egret goes on every spring in the 

 heart of the delta. Old Laguna, the Indian mentioned 

 in my narrative, had a small bundle of the exquisite 

 feathers which he tried to sell to Captain Fun eke. 

 Much of this contraband is smuggled across the inter- 

 national boundary from Mexicali, and more from Tia 

 Juana, near San Diego. As authority for this state- 

 ment, I have the word of a man who has more than 

 once accomplished the act. In Calexico I heard the 

 boast that ''every woman in town" possessed a bunch 

 of ''aigrettes," all of which had, of course, been 

 brought into the country illicitly. These facts tend 

 to prove that, in the suppression of the plume trade, 

 the creation of a strong public sentiment is quite as 

 important as a rigid enforcement of the law. 



31. Butorides virescens anthonyi. Anthony's Green 



Heron. — Common all along Hardy's Colorado in 

 April. Not observed by Rhoads in February. 



32. Nycticorax nycticorax naevius. Black-crowned Night 



Heron. — "Without exception the most abundant 

 water bird on the rivej " (Rhoads) . Strangely enough, 

 I saw this heron only along the irrigation canals south 

 of Mexicali, during the latter part of April. 



