112 
GREAT EGRET HERON. 
satisfy me that the Great Egret Heron with, and that without the 
long plumes, are one and the same species, in different periods of 
age. In the museum of my friend Mr, Peale, there is a specimen 
of this bird, in which the train is wanting ; but on a closer exami- 
nation, its rudiments are plainly to be perceived, extending several 
inches beyond the common plumage. 
The Great Egret Heron breeds in several of the extensive 
cedar swamps in the lower parts of New Jersey. Their nests are 
built on the trees, in societies ; the structure and materials exactly 
similar to those of the Little White Heron, but larger. The eggs 
are usually four, of a pale blue color. In the months of July and 
August the young make their first appearance in the meadows and 
marshes, in parties of twenty or thirty together. The large ditches 
with which the extensive meadows below Philadelphia are inter- 
sected, are regularly, about that season, visited by flocks of these 
birds ; these are frequently shot ; but the old ones are too saga- 
cious to be easily approached. Their food consists of frogs, li- 
zards, small fish, insects, seeds of the splatter dock (a species of 
nymphse) and small water snakes. They will also devour mice 
and moles, the remains of such having been at different times found 
in their stomachs. 
The long plumes of these birds have at various periods been 
in great request, on the continent of Europe, particularly in France 
and Italy, for the purpose of ornamenting the female head-dress. 
When dyed of various colors, and tastefully fashioned, they form 
a light and elegant duster and moscheto brush. The Indians prize 
them for ornamenting their hair, or top-knot; and I have occasion- 
ally observed these people wandering through the market-place of 
New Orleans with bunches of those feathers for sale. 
The Great Egret Heron measures five feet from the extremi- 
ties of the wings, and three feet six inches from the tip of the bill 
to the end of the tail ; the train extends seven or eight inches far- 
ther. This train is composed of a great number of long, thick, 
