Snowy Heron or White Egret
Ardea candidissima, Gm.
Male adult spring plumage.
Rice plantation, South Carolina.

Artist John James Audubon (1785–1851)
Source/Photographer Plate 242 of The Birds of America by John James Audubon depicting Snowy Heron or White Egret Egretta thula.
Date between 1827 and 1838
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:242_Snowy_Heron_or_White_Egret.jpg

The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, aigrette, which is a diminutive of aigron, 'heron'. The species name thula is the Araucano term for the black-necked swan, applied to this species in error by Chilean naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina in 1782. The snowy egret is the American counterpart to the very similar Old World little egret, which has become established in the Bahamas. At one time, the plumes of the snowy egrets were in great demand as decorations for women's hats.

Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Egretta
Species: Egretta thula (Molina, 1782)
Synonyms: Ardea thula, Leucophoyx thula