Egrets and Aigrettes. 
9 
eyes and green legs and beak ; its loose plumage, 
which is soft as an owl’s, has two colours, clear 
grey and pure pale yellow, harmoniously disposed. 
At other times it has seemed to me that the egret 
is the most lovely bird of this special type. Its entire 
plumage is of a whiteness surpassing that of other 
kinds, so that when viewed side by side with it, the 
swan and wood-ibis and stork look dull and earthy by 
comparison. In allusion to this excessive whiteness, 
different species have received the scientific names of 
alba, immaculata, candidissima ; but no words can 
give an idea of how white the egret really is. It is 
as if the bird had some luminous quality existing 
within itself, which shows through the plumage, and 
gives it among birds something of a supernatural 
appearance. The egret is seen at its best standing 
motionless on some dark dead branch, or on the 
margin of the water against the deep greens and 
browns of aquatic foliage, the neck curved to the form 
of an S, the golden dagger beak inclining downward at 
a slight angle, and the plumage showing white as a 
drift of lately fallen snow with the clear sunshine 
glinting on it—a bird-statuette carved by some 
divinely-inspired artist out of a white crystalline stone 
found in no earthly quarry. 
This is the bird which is sought after in its haunts 
and killed for the sake of its few ornamental feathers. 
These feathers, as I have said, are nuptial ornaments, 
and appear only in the love season : consequently, to 
