520 HEEODIAS EGEETTA, GEEAT WHITE EGRET. 



stance, and the Louisianan, are not white ; while the small Green Heron 

 has long, flowing dorsal plumes. 



Audubon has a paragraph upou this species susceptible of extensive 

 application, and expressing a favorite idea of mine, strengthened into 

 conviction hj repeated observation. Speaking of finding Egrets much 

 wilder in early spring than after they had settled to their duties of re- 

 production, he says : " I have supposed this to be caused by the change 

 of their thoughts on such occasions, and am of opinion that birds of all 

 kinds become more careless of themselves. As the strength of their 

 attachment toward their mates or progeny increases through the process 

 of time, as is the case with the better part of our own species, lovers 

 and parents perform acts of heroism which individuals having no such 

 attachment to each other would never dare to contemplate. In these 

 birds the impulse of affection is so great that, wben tliey have young, 

 they allow themselves to be approached so as often to fall victims to the 

 rapacity of man, who, boasting of reason and benevolence, ought at 

 such a time to respect their devotion." No one unfamiliar with birds' 

 natures, as exhibited at different seasons of the year, and at varying 

 ages, can have adequate conception of the oxjposite traits they display. 

 Even Doves, those meekest of birds — the emblems of " peace on earth 

 and good- will" — fight furiously when the furor amantium is on them; 

 the wariest birds forget to consider personal danger in defence of their 

 young; suspicious birds sometimes grow impudently familiar; knowing 

 birds appear stupid ; dull birds become frisky, and frisky birds beside 

 themselves, when in love ; silent birds cry out, and singing birds sing 

 all the time. 



Another point may be mentioned here. The young, even of birds by 

 nature shy and suspicious, require some time to get over their early 

 verdancy and acquire a wholesome degree of caution. Instincts of this 

 sort are undoubtedly hereditary, and sufSciently well marked to enable 

 us to predicate it, in a certain greater or less degree, of all birds ; and 

 circumstances of subsequent experience, moreover, have much control 

 over its development and exhibition. But, beyond these variations, it 

 is unquestionable that, other things being equal, young birds are for a 

 while less wary than their parents, as certainly as in the case of our 

 own species. The White Egret is an illustration in point. We are 

 familiar with the difficulty that Audubon records of his experience in 

 attempting to shoot these birds ; and those of us who have tried can 

 attest the same thing. But such strategy is not always required, late 

 in the summer and early in the fall, to obtain birds of the year. At 

 Fort Tuma, where the birds were very common, I had frequent occa- 

 sion to wonder at their want of shyness in the fall, not to say their ab- 

 solute stupidity. On one occassion that I remember I came upou a 

 young bird that was quietly feeding at a little pool. Notwithstanding 

 that I was on horseback and had come clattering along, the bird, not 

 frightened at the noise and sudden appearance, merely drew itself up at 

 full height to look a moment, and then bent its long neck again to re- 

 sume its meal, within fifteen steps of me. It was to have been hoped 

 that it could have lived long enough to learn better. Speaking in gen- 

 eral terms, and without considering the artificial frame of mind brought 

 about by man's interference, the shyness of anj' Heron corresponds ex- 

 actly to its size; and it is so with many other birds, particularly Gulls — 

 the larger the species, the more wary: The smaller kinds, as the Green 

 Heron and the Least Bittern, show little concern at being approached. 

 It would almost seem as if the greater birds were aware how likely to 

 attract harmful attention their. imposing appearance made them, and as 

 if the little ones trusted to their insignificance for protection. It is only 



