Sydney Porter—Notes from South America



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these stately white birds with their gleaming, ethereal, white plumage

and long trains of delicate plumes trailing behind them, slowly wading

about in the shallow waters of the lakes. No living animal possesses

such grace as these birds. Seen in a European Zoo minus their long

aigrettes and with their plumage soiled and stained from the sooty

atmosphere, they bear no resemblance to these birds in a state of

freedom.


There was one fairly large aviary planted with oleanda trees

in which were a good many Snowy Egrets besides other small wading

birds ; Dr. Orfila, the director of ornithology, told me that the Egrets

bred regularly in this aviary and reared their young solely on raw meat.

I noticed, however, that the birds were continually fighting, though

whether they ever seriously injured each other I do not know. Egrets

are certainly very quarrelsome birds, even though they are gregarious

in their wild state, but even at the nesting colonies there is a great deal

of squabbling. The stock-in-trade of the bird shop in the Sarmiento

in Buenos Aires appeared to be Snowy Egrets, these, compared to the

wild birds were almost unrecognizable, being a very miserable state

and very dirty ; there was only one fully plumaged male amongst

them and this I purchased with three others. I never saw birds bicker

and squabble as they did on board the ship coming home. I had them

in a large crate and, incredible as it may seem, one pair tried to nest.

Since I have had them in a large pond aviary at home they have made

no further attempt to reproduce.


Many years ago when seeing my first wild Egret in the full glory

of its filmy nuptial plumage, with its dazzling whiteness and perfect

shape, I thought it the most beautiful bird in the world and after many

years and seeing many of the world’s most beautiful birds I still think

the same. These lovely birds were the chief victims of the plume

hunter, and years ago in spite of the birds’ having a very wide range,

it seemed as though they would be brought to extinction. Even now,

after years of rigid protection in nearly every country where they are

found, there is but the merest semblance of their former numbers.

Unfortunately at the present time in spite of the prohibition of the

importation of plumage into this country, large consignments of

Egret feathers are smuggled in and the “ Osprey ”, as these feathers



