(WHITE EGRET.)
Ardea egretta, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 125; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 189 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 399 (Centr. Patagonia); Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 156 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 624 (Salta); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 271 (Entrerios, Pampas). Ardea leuce, Burm. Syst. Ueb. iii. p. 416; id. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 509. Herodias egretta, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 23.
Description.—White above and beneath; bill yellow; legs black; head not crested; side-plumes lengthened and decomposed: whole length 35·0 inches, wing 15·0, tail 6·0. Female similar, but rather smaller.
Hab. North and South America.
The White Egret inhabits America from Nova Scotia to Patagonia, and is everywhere common, so that its breeding and other habits are very well known. On the pampas, owing to the absence of forests, its nesting-habits have been modified, for there it makes its nest amongst the reeds; as do also other species which elsewhere in America, North and South, build on trees. The following interesting account of a heronry on the pampas is from a paper by Mr. Gibson:—
“In November of 1873 I found a large breeding-colony of Ardea egretta, A. candidissima, and Nycticorax obscurus in the heart of a lonely swamp. The rushes were thick, but had been broken down by the birds in a patch some fifty yards in diameter. There were from 300 to 400 nests, as well as I could judge; of these three fourths were of A. egretta, and the remainder, with the exception of two or three dozen of N. obscurus, belonged to A. candidissima. Those of the first-mentioned species were slight platforms, placed on the tops of broken rushes, at a height of from two to three feet above the water, and barely a yard apart.
“The nests of A. candidissima were built up from the water to the height of a foot or a foot and a half, with a hollow on the top for the eggs; they were very compactly put together, of small dry twigs of a water-plant. A good many were distributed amongst those of A. egretta; but the majority were close together, at one side of the colony, where the reeds were taller and less broken.
“The nests of N. obscurus much resembled the latter in construction and material; but very few were interspersed amongst those of the other two species, being retired to the side opposite A. candidissima, on the borders of some channels of clear water; there they were placed amongst the high reeds, and a few yards apart from each other.
“The larger Egrets remained standing on their nests till I was within twenty yards of them, and alighted again when I had passed. In this position they looked much larger than when flying. The smaller Egrets first flew up onto the reeds above the nests, and then immediately took to flight, not returning; while N. obscurus rose and sailed away, uttering a deep squawk, squawk, long before one came near the nest.
“At one side of the colony a nest of Ciconia maguari, with two full-grown young, seemed like the reigning house of the place.