410 REDDISH EGRET.
ous sizes, of which it consumes a great number, and of which it finds no
difficulty in procuring a sufficiency, as all the waters of those portions of
the Floridas that are inhabited by it are very profusely stocked. I was
told that, although still plentiful in the Floridas, this species was much
more so when the keys were first settled. I was present when a person
killed twenty-eight in succession in about an hour, the poor birds hovering
above their island in dismay, and unaware of the destructive power
of their enemy.
The remarkable circumstance of this bird's changing from white to
purple will no doubt have some tendency to disconcert the systematists,
who, it seems, pronounce all the birds which they name Egrets to be always
white; but how much more disconcerted must they be when they
see that among the Herons peculiarly so named, which they say are always
coloured, the largest known to exist in the United States is pure
white. It is not at present my intention to say what an Egret is, or what
a Heron is ; but it can no longer be denied that the presence or absence
of a loose crest, floating plume, and a white colour, are insufficient for
establishing essential characters separating Egrets from Herons, which in
fact display the most intimate connection, the one group running into the
other in an almost imperceptible gradation. Hoping that an account of
the extent of the migrations of the twelve species of Heron that occur in
the United States, and whose habits I have studied for many years under
the most favourable circumstances, may prove acceptable, I now lay one
before you, arranging the species according to size, without regard to the
rank they hold in systematic works.
1. The Great White Heron. Ardea occidentalis. A constant resident
on the southern keys of Florida; entirely maritime ; never goes
farther eastward than Cape Florida, though in winter the younger birds
migrate southward, and perhaps pass beyond the extremities of the Gulf
of Mexico.
2. The Great Blue Heron. Ardea Herodias. A constant resident
in the Floridas; migrates throughout the Union, and as far along the
Atlantic coast as the southernmost islands of the Gulf of St Lawrence in
summer ; breeds in all the districts, and at the approach of winter returns
to the Southern States.
3. The White Heron. Ardea alba. Resident in the Floridas; migrates
to the eastward sometimes as far as Massachusetts, and up the
Mississippi as far as the city of Natchez ; never seen far inland.
REDDISH EGRET. 417
4. The Purple Heron. Ardea rufescens. Resident on the Florida
Keys ; entirely maritime; never seen farther eastward than Cape Florida;
the young sometimes remove southward in winter.
5. The American Bittern. Ardea minor. A winter resident in the
Floridas; many migrate over the greater part of the Union and beyond
its northern limits; never seen in Kentucky; return before winter to the
Southern States.
6. The Night Heron. Ardea Nycticorax. Resident in the Floridas;
migrates eastward as far as Maine, up the Mississippi as high as Memphis;
none seen in Kentucky; returns to the Southern States at the approach
of winter, and occurs at the distance of a hundred miles inland.
7. The Yellow-crowned Heron. Ardea violacea. A few spend the
winter in the Floridas; it rarely migrates farther eastward than New
Jersey; proceeds up the Mississippi to Natchez ; never goes far inland ;
the greatest number winter beyond the southern limits of the United
States.
8. The Blue Heron. Ardea coerulea. Resident in the Floridas ; migrates
eastward as far as Long Island; proceeds up the Mississippi about
a hundred miles above Natchez ; never goes far inland.
9. The Louisiana Heron. Ardea Ludoviciana. Resident in the Floridas
; rarely seen as far east as New Jersey ; seldom passes Natchez on
the Mississippi; never goes far inland.
10. The White Egret. Ardea candidissima. Resident in the Floridas
; migrates eastward as far as New York, up the Mississippi as far
as Memphis; never goes far inland; returns to the Southern States as
soon as the young are able to travel.
11. The Green Heron. Ardea virescens. Resident in the Floridas;
disperses over the Union ; goes far inland ; the greater number return at
the approach of winter to the Southern States.
12. The Least Bittern. Ardea exilis. Resident in the Floridas;
migrates as far as Maine, and throughout the Western Country, far up
the Missouri; returns early in autumn to the Southern States.
You will see from the above statement, that the Herons are almost
similar to our Pigeons in respect to the extent of their migrations, which
must appear the more remarkable on account of their comparative size,
Ardea Herodias and A. virescens corresponding in a great degree to the
Columba migratoria and C. carolinensis.
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