The Snowy Heron, or Snowy Egret, (_Egretta candidissima_), when fully adult, is the most beautiful white bird in all the avian world. Its form is the embodiment of symmetry and grace, its plumage is immaculate, and the filmy “plumes” on its head and back are like spun glass. Its black legs and bill merely serve to intensify the whiteness of its feathers. The vanity of woman has been the curse of the Snowy Egret. Its plumes are finest during the breeding season, and it was then that the hunters sought them, slaughtering the old birds in the rookeries by thousands (when they were abundant), and leaving the nestlings to die of starvation. If all women could know the price in blood and suffering which is paid for the accursed “aigrettes” of fashion, surely but few could find any pleasure in wearing them. It is strange that civilized woman—the tender-hearted, the philanthropic, and the ever-compassionate—should prove to be the evil genius of the world’s most beautiful birds. In the United States the Snowy Egret now exists only by accident, and the “plume hunters” are pursuing this and the following species in Central and South America, to their most remote haunts, sometimes even at the risk of their lives. Fashion has decreed that the egrets must go. [Illustration: BROWN AND WHITE PELICANS.] The American Egret, (_Herodias egretta_).—Much to the misfortune of this species, it possesses about fifty “aigrette” plumes which droop in graceful curves from the middle of its back far beyond the tail and wing tips. For these beautiful feathers this bird has been pursued by plume hunters almost to the point of total extermination in the United States. The White Pelican, (_Pelecanus erythrorhynchus_), is one of the largest birds of North America and by reason of its size, its pure white plumage, its enormously long amber-colored bill and gular pouch, it is one of the most showy birds in the aviary. As consumers of fish they stand pre-eminent among birds, and their only rivals in the Park are the sea-lions. The specimens exhibited were collected for the Society in southern Texas. The Brown Pelican, (_Pelecanus occidentalis_), when adult, is a handsome and showy bird, and one which not only is easily reconciled to life in a comfortable aviary, but positively enjoys it. The specimens in our collection were collected for the Society on Pelican Island, Florida, and their interesting home life at that place may be studied from the series of photographs on exhibition in the Aquatic Bird House. When their daily allowance of fish appears they crowd around their keeper, and with wide-open pouches earnestly solicit contributions. THE AQUATIC BIRD HOUSE, No. 5.