SNOWY HERON
197. Egretta candidissima. 24 in.
Plumage white; in breeding season with numerous recurved plumes growing from the middle of the back; long crest of plumes on the back of the head, and on the breast. Bill black, greenish at the base and about the eyes; legs black; feet yellow. This species is the most beautiful of the Egrets and consequently is the one that has suffered most from “plume hunters.” Although they are now protected wherever they can be, their ranks have been so decimated that extermination is threatened within a few years; the demand for their plumes is still so great that lawless men will commit murder to obtain them (Warden Bradley having been shot in 1905, while preventing the destruction of herons in Southern Florida).
Nest.—In swamps, in company with other small herons, the nests being frail platforms of twigs on branches of trees. Eggs pale greenish-blue.
Range.—Breeding range formerly coincident with that of the last, but now very rare.
