384 



PRACTICAL ZOOLOGY 



years ago these beautiful birds were abundant in some Southern 

 States ; stragglers occasionally came north as far as New Eng- 

 land. They are shy birds during most of the year, feeding 

 chiefly in deep swamps and along lonely watercourses. In the 

 breeding season they gather into heronries, commonly called 

 " rookeries," where they build their nests. Then much of their 

 shyness disappears under the stress of providing for and pro- 

 tecting their young. Un- 

 fortunately for them, their 

 nuptial plumes are perfect 

 in the breeding season. 

 Fashion demanded the 

 plumes. Nesting time was 

 the plume hunter's oppor- 

 tunity. There was little 

 difficulty, then, in secur- 

 ing the birds by shooting 

 them when they were sit- 

 ting on the nests or hover- 

 ing over their helpless 

 young. So the old birds 

 were shot, the plumes 

 stripped from their backs, 

 and the young left to 

 starve in the nests or to 

 become the prey of hawks, crows, or vultures. 



Visitors in Florida, in 1878, observed great flights of these 

 birds along the lakes and rivers of the southern counties. 

 One heronry was estimated to contain three million birds. Ten 

 years later they were rare everywhere, and now they are prac- 

 tically extirpated. They have been pursued along the coasts 

 of Mexico and into Central and South America. The search 

 is extending into all countries where they may be found. Half- 

 savage Indians and negroes are enlisted in the slaughter, sup- 

 plied with guns and ammunition, and sent wherever they can 



Fig. 261. — Egret, nest, and young. 

 (From Peabody and Hunt.) 



