My boy, who had been with marabou and egret poachers in the swamps and rice-fields of the lower Rufigi, knew the value of these snowy feathers.

So all the game which we saw was a lovely white Egret, {278} its back covered with those stiff pinnated plumes which young ladies when they can obtain themare only too happy to wear in their hats.

In other words, I was looking for the little white egret, a bird concerning which, thanks to the murderous work of plume-hunters,thanks, also, to those good women who pay for having the work done,I must confess that I went to Florida and came home again without certainly seeing it.

The Louisiana heron was my favorite, as I say, but incomparably the handsomest member of the family (I speak of such as I saw) was the great white egret.

The reader should understand that this egret is between four and five feet in length, and measures nearly five feet from wing tip to wing tip, and that its plumage throughout is of spotless white.

The mangrove bushes on the banks of the river, which was quite salt, were crowded with the nests of an egret, in which the young birds were nearly fledged.

The egret that we had seen last voyage in the Alligator River was also seen here; and white cockatoos were in large flights, but hawks were unusually rare.

The egret and the crane, which appear to have been formerly very common in Scotland, are now only occasional visitants.

[Illustration: Snowy Egret Or Bonnet Martyr.]

"Yes, to be sure; there are two more that will interest youthe Snowy Egret or Bonnet Martyr, and the Great Blue Heron or Blue Giant.

Now do you wonder that I call this beautiful Snowy Egret the Bonnet Martyr?"

" The Snowy Egret (The Bonnet Martyr.) Length about two feet.

He has a larger brother called the American White Egret, as pure white as himself, but three feet or more instead of only two feet long, with the plumes hanging down over his tail instead of curled up, and none growing on his head.

Snowy Egret Garzet'ta candidis'sima.

The Crow and the Egret CXXI.

The Crow and the Egret.

A crow and a white egret once made their nests in the same tree, and when the nestlings began to grow up the crow saw how pretty and white the young egrets were, and thought them much nicer than her own black young ones.

So one day when the egret was away, the crow changed the nestlings and brought the little white egrets, to her own nest.

The egret promised to catch him a fine rohu fish, which was what she was accustomed to eat, but the crow said that she would give him a golden necklace.

"But," protested the egret "how have my white nestlings become black?"

"Where are you off to so fast, uncle?" called out the egret.

The money-lender heard all that passed and was filled with shame at having earned the contempt of the jackal; he feared more disgrace on the morrow, so he at once called the crow and made her return the egret's nestlings, and the next morning when the jackal came back it found that everything had been settled to the satisfaction of the egret.

The money-lender heard all that passed and was filled with shame at having earned the contempt of the jackal; he feared more disgrace on the morrow, so he at once called the crow and made her return the egret's nestlings, and the next morning when the jackal came back it found that everything had been settled to the satisfaction of the egret.

The beaches were frequented by gulls, terns, and oyster-catchers; and an egret was noticed of a slate-coloured plumage, with a small ruff upon its head.

On the same refreshing errand was a luckless beautiful slate-coloured egret, which Mr. Gore shot.