AMERICAN EGRET
196. Herodias egretta. 41 in.
Entirely white, with no plumes on the head but with a long train of straight “aigrette” plumes growing from the middle of the back; bill and eye, yellow; legs and feet, black. Young and adults in winter, without plumes. The hand of man, to gratify the desire of woman, has ruthlessly slaughtered thousands upon thousands of these exquisitely beautiful birds; in Florida where they were abundant a few years ago, only stragglers are seen. A few of these heronries are yet left, either because they are in wildernesses where man has not yet penetrated, or are strongly protected by the humane owners of the land. It is only at the breeding places that they can be killed in numbers, as at other times they are shy; and it is only during nesting season that they wear their beautiful plumes.
Nest.—A frail platform of sticks, at low elevations, in bushes usually over water in swamps. Eggs, 3 or 4 in number, plain bluish green (2.25 × 1.45); April to June.
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.