_Egretta nivea._—+Mihi.+
[98] Length 21¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 35¹⁄₂, flexure 9³⁄₄, tail 3¹⁄₂,
rictus 3³⁄₄, tarsus 4, middle toe 2⁸⁄₁₀. Irides pale straw-yellow;
feet, cheeks and orbits, pale pea-green; beak bluish-grey, tip
black, gonys white. Plumage snow-white; tips of the first six
primaries dashed with pale grey.
It was on the 1st of August, the anniversary of freedom to the slave,
that I first met with this beautiful bird. By a singular coincidence,
Sam had been just describing it to me, as a bird not yet obtained,
when, scarcely five minutes after, on going into the yard, he instantly
came running in, saying, “Here is a Gaulin, Sir!” I snatched up my
gun and ran out, and saw the snow-white bird sitting on a castor-oil
tree, just over the brook. I crept softly towards it, but there being
no concealment, it took alarm, and flew before I could approach, and I
lost it among the woods. I determined, however, to seek it, and bade
my lad follow me. We had noted the direction which it had taken, and
pursued it towards a bend of the river. Before we had gone a hundred
yards through the bush, Sam sung out; and there was the bird wheeling
round in the air close to us, and in a moment it alighted on the
topmost twig of a low tree. I fired, nervous with expectation, and the
next instant the lovely bird was at my feet, with unruffled plumage,
and but a single drop of blood oozing through the neck.
Some weeks after I saw another directing its flagging flight over the
pasture; it rose gradually as it proceeded, till, when over the river,
it began to wheel in large circles at a considerable height. After
perhaps half-a-dozen gyrations, it flew off in nearly a straight line
for a quarter of a mile or more; then circled in like manner; and again
pursued the same course until I lost it from sight.
The Gaulins, or Egrets, are usually shy and vigilant birds, but not
invariably. One day in May, as I was riding past Cave, my attention was
called to one of this species, which was fishing in the shallows off
the rivulet’s mouth, whither it had resorted for several days past.
Its tameness was remarkable; for negro women were washing within a few
yards, and it permitted me to ride towards it, and to approach almost
close, without being alarmed, merely walking slowly away; till at
last, when I was within three or four yards, it slowly rose to flight,
but alighted not half a stone’s cast distant. I was pleased to watch
it a while, observing the spotless whiteness of its plumage, and the
gracefulness of its form and motions, as it arched its beautiful neck
with the elegance of a swan.
In some situations this is not a scarce bird. Passing along by railway
from Kingston to Spanish Town, I have observed in June, the white forms
of many Gaulins studding the verdant meadows called the Ferry marshes,
taking their morning meal in the shallows, and by the borders of Fresh
River. Six or eight were within the space of a hundred yards, all
feeding, yet not associating.
On a moringa-tree near the house at Robin’s River, the young friend,
to whom I am indebted for several notes, used to see the nest of a
White Gaulin, consisting of sticks and twigs, and about as large as
a washing-basin; but being in an enclosure, he could not examine it.
He used often, in passing, to see the bird sitting in it, and looking
fearlessly at the passengers; for it is close to the high-road. He
described its beautiful appearance, as it sat in its unspotted purity,
with its long neck gracefully bent into sigmoid curves, as it gazed
hither and thither.
This bird is closely allied to the following species, from which it is
distinguished by the colour of the beak, lores, and feet, and by the
ashy tips of the quills.