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Cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) first arrived in New Zealand in 1963 and have since been seen in increasing numbers, particularly during 1972-73. On 23 November 1972 two adult birds (probably a pair) in full breeding plumage, accompanied by a young bird in the white immature plumage, were seen in a paddock with cattle at Paretai, near the mouth of the Clutha River, south-eastern Otago. The egrets associated with white- faced herons and twice flew to nearby macrocarpa trees where there were several abandoned heron nests. A week before, the two adult cattle egrets had been seen with two young but one had disappeared. From their appearance, behaviour and local circumstances it is suggested that they were a pair with a young and that they had nested nearby together with two or three pairs of white-faced herons, deriving the stimulus for breeding from this association.