(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.
"It certainly was one of the finest ornithological sights I ever saw:
all around a wilderness of dark green rushes, rising above my head as
I sat on horseback; the cloud of graceful snow-white birds perched
everywhere, or reflected in the water as they flew to and fro overhead;
and the hundreds of blue eggs exposed to the bright sunlight.
"_A. egretta_ and _A. candidissima_ lay four eggs each, though the
former rarely hatches out more than three. _N. obscurus_ lays and
hatches out three. The eggs of all three species are of the same shade
of light blue."