The American Egret 





the young birds were raised, the wedding garments of the parents would 

 either have been worn threadbare in service, or else cast aside. There- 

 fore, since it had to be done, as our gentle ladies had decreed, the only way 

 was to visit a colony during the breeding season, shoot all the old birds 

 (who would not, of course, desert their young), snatch out their nuptial 

 plumes, and leave their carcasses to putrify, while the starving children 

 called down from the treetops to the ears that heard not. Thus, a single 

 plume-hunter has killed 

 hundreds of Egrets in a 

 day, and in the palmy 

 days of the "industry" 

 certain gangs were able 

 to kill tens of thousands 

 in a single season. 



Of the former abun- 

 dance of the Egret in 

 California we have no 

 clear conception. Heer- 

 mannsaid, 1 "They breed 

 in large numbers, asso- 

 ciated with other species, 

 on the edges of the 

 sloughs and marshes." 

 Henshaw wrote of con- 

 ditions in 1877 and 1878 : 

 "Colonies of this species 

 reside on many of the 

 lakes which lie at the 

 foot of the mountains in 

 eastern California and 

 western Nevada." It is 

 probable, therefore, that 

 the species occurred in 

 summer wherever there 

 was sufficient induce- 

 ment of water and flood- 

 ed woods or large 

 expanse of tules, and, 

 notably, in the great 

 interior valley. Even 



1 Pac. R. R. Surv., Vol. 10, p. 63. 



Taken near Santa Barbara 



AMERICAN EGRETS 



Photo by the Author 



1899 



