The Snowy Egret 
215 
Marsh 
Feeders 
birds let fall, but undoubtedly they eat many of the young Egrets that fall 
from the nest. I have been told by wardens that alligators sometimes 
shake or jar the bushes with the object of spilling the young birds 
out; of the truthfulness of this statement, however, I know of noi satis- 
factory proof. 
Young Egrets are fed chiefly on small fish, which the parent regurgi- 
tates into their mouths. The old Egrets in gathering food for them- 
selves or young often make journeys of several miles from the rookery 
to their favorite feeding-grounds, where they get their prey while wading 
in the water. Ordinarily you need not expect to find them feeding where 
there are many trees, as for example in a swamp, nor on shores the 
borders of which are paved with sand or pebbles, but 
you must gO' to the marshes. Elere, where often the 
water is only a few inches deep, the small life found 
about the submerged bases of the marsh grasses provides food for 
the minnows that the Egrets love. Some members of the Heron family 
have the habit of standing still and capturing the fish that swim near them, 
or they will stalk through the water, very stately and dignified, keeping 
an eye out the while for any finny prey. 
The Snowy Egret appears seldom to employ these methods. On the 
Orton plantation, in southeastern North Carolina, there is a pond a 
few miles in length, the dam for which was built by negroes in the 
days of slavery. This body of water is used for flooding the rice-fields 
of the plantation. It is a famous place for bird-life. In one of the nar- 
row arms of the pond, which runs back into a cypress swamp, there is 
situated a rookery of perhaps two thousand Herons of different species. 
Should you visit this colony some day in May you would be able after 
a little watching to see a number of Snowy Egrets caring for their young. 
The parents are continually coming and going at all hours of the day. 
You may see a solitary Snowy Egret come flying in over the lake, go to 
its nest, feed its young, preen its feathers for a time, 
and then start off for more food. Nearly all of them 
come from the same direction. Not long ago I dis- 
covered their favorite feeding-ground. It was a brackish-water marsh 
close to the ocean, and about fifteen miles from where the birds had their 
nests. 
One day I hid in a tall clump of grass to see what would come near. 
I had not long to wait before a Snowy Egret lightly dropped into the 
water not a hundred feet away. Evidently it was hungry or knew that its 
young were, for it immediately began a most vigorous quest for min- 
nows. With the most astonishing agility it ran here and there through 
the water, its bright yellow eyes evidently discovering many objects of 
interest. With lightning-like rapidity the bill shot downward for min- 
nows, and I suspect it rarely missed its prey. A Louisiana Heron came 
along and began feeding near by. The Snowy rushing here and there 
suddenly found itself face to face with its more sedate neighbor. In- 
Care of 
Young 
