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 Ardea Herodias alive. 
After bringing them on board, I placed them altogether 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 Ardea rufescens and A. 
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. 
When 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 diffi- • 
cult 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 
