THE CATTLE EGRET 
field N otes : —There is little to say under this heading for 
with us the cattle-egret is unmistak cable in appearance. One 
or two other species of egrets or birds closely resembling them 
have been known to visit the island but so rarely that they may 
be safely ignored. Our conscience on this point is quite clear 
because if these other species were seen by the amateur we 
could give no hints for their identification in the field and 
indeed if the birds were not in full plumage their determination 
in a museum is sometimes not the easiest of matters! 
[Other habits: — ^The cattle-egret is so called because of 
its constant attendance on herd& of buffaloes and oxen : 
sometimes the bird perches on the animars back, but usually 
walks close to the beasts and pounces on grasshoppers and 
other insects as well as small frog^s and lizards which are 
disturbed as the cattle graze ; it is also said to devour the 
ticks with which its friends are infested. 
Although this egret may often be noticed in the marshes 
away from the town in small flocks of a dozen or more it is 
not extremely common in Singapore Island : but in Johore 
it might be seen in very large mimbers all round His Highness 
the Sultan's Palace where it is absurdly tame. On account of 
its beauty it is shot far more often than is necessary and 
stuffed specimens are usually in the hands of local taxidermists. 
It IS a winter visitor to Singapore but breeds in huge colonies 
in Burma and parts of India where it is most confiding and 
common-, its nest is a coarse edifice of sticks placed on trees 
often in the middle of a swamp and some four to six pale 
greenish-blue eggs are laid. It may breed in our Peninsula. 
-J. A. S. B.]. 
[89] 
