116 THE GREAT WHITE HERON. 



high in the air, where they sail in wide circles, and they never alight 

 without performing this circling flight, unless when going to feeding grounds 

 on which other individuals have already settled. It is truly surprising that 

 a bird of so powerful a flight never visits Georgia or the Carolinas, nor goes 

 to the mainland. When you see them about the middle of the day on their 

 feeding grounds they "loom" to about double their size, and present a 

 singular appearance. It is difficult to kill them unless with buck-shot, which 

 we found ourselves obliged to use. 



When I left Key West, on our return towards Charleston, I took with me 

 two young birds that had been consigned to the care of my friend Dr. B. 

 Strobel, who assured me that they devoured more than their weight of 

 food per day. I had also two young birds of the Jirdea Herodias alive. 

 After bringing them on board, I placed them all together in a very large 

 coop; but was soon obliged to separate the two species, for the white birds 

 would not be reconciled to the blue, which they would have killed. While 

 the former had the privilege of the deck for a few minutes, they struck at 

 the smaller species, such as the young of Jirdea rufescens and «/?. 

 Ludoviciana, some of which they instantly killed and swallowed entire, 

 although they were abundantly fed on the flesh of green turtles. None of 

 the sailors succeeded in making friends with them. 



On reaching Indian Key, I found those which had been left with Mrs. 

 Egan, in excellent health and much increased in size, but to my surprise 

 observed that their bills were much broken, which she assured me had been 

 caused by the great force with which they struck at the fishes thrown to 

 them on the rocks of their enclosure, — a statement which I found confirmed 

 by my own observation in the course of the day. It was almost as difficult 

 to catch them in the yard, as if they had never seen a man before, and we 

 were obliged to tie their bills fast, to avoid being wounded by them while 

 carrying them on board. They thrived well, and never manifested the least 

 animosity towards each other. One of them which accidentally walked 

 before the coop in which the Blue Herons were, thrust its bill between the 

 bars, and transfixed the head of one of these birds, so that it was instan- 

 taneously killed. 



W'hen we arrived at Charleston, four of them were still alive. They 

 were taken to my friend John Bachman, who was glad to see them. He 

 kept a pair, and offered the other to our mutual friend Dr. Samuel Wilson, 

 who accepted them, but soon afterwards gave them to Dr. Gibbes of 

 Columbia College, merely because they had killed a number of Ducks. My 

 friend Bachman kept two of these birds for many months; but it was difficult 

 for him to procure fish enough for them, as they swallowed a bucketful of 

 mullets in a few minutes, each devouring about a gallon of these fishes. 



