HERONS 



(197) Egretta candidissima 

 candidissima 



(GineL) (Lat., very white). 



SNOWY EGRET ; SNOWY 

 HERON. Plumage always entirely 

 white; in breeding season as shown 

 on plate, with a beautiful train of 

 recurved plumes on the back and 

 straight ones on the breast and back 

 of the head. Bill black, yellow at 

 the base and on the lores. Legs 

 black but feet yellowish. L., 24.00; 

 W., 10.00; Tar., 3.75; Tibia (bare), 

 2.50; B., 3.00 Nesl — A frail plat- 

 form in bushes or trees in swamps; 

 three to five pale, greenish-blue eggs, 

 i.6sx 1.25. 



Range — Breeds very locally from 

 N. Car. and Fla. to La.; formerly 

 bred north to N. J., Ind. and Ore. 

 Casual north to Ont., N. S. and B. C. 



Thirty years ago these egrets were equally as abundant 

 as other small herons found in the same places. To-day the 

 other herons are still abundant but the "white ones" have 

 disappeared — solely because "fashion" put a price on 

 their plumes; a plain case of their very beauty proving their 

 curse. Despite falsehoods, circulated by wholesale milliners, 

 to the effect that cast-off, moulted plumes are gathered 

 from the bushes upon which they have fallen, the fact 

 remains, proven by scores of reputable ornithologists who 

 have visited these heronries and actually seen the plume 

 hunters at work, that the birds are slaughtered in their 

 rookeries; the back, containing the plumes, is torn off and 

 the mangled bodies thrown in piles to decompose, while 

 the young egrets perish from starvation in their nests over- 

 head. The root of the evil lies, not with the hunters, who 

 are ignorant, and do this only to earn a living, but with 

 society which puts a premium on such slaughter. 



As the illustrations show, the Great White Egret has a long 

 train of about thirty straight plumes, while the Snowy 



123 



