thirty-five or forty in number, and, as they contained particles of the down of the bird, shewed evidently from this circumstance that they act the part of a comb, to rid the bird of vermin in those parts which it cannot reach with its bill.

207. ARDEA VIOLACEA, LINNEUS AND WILSON.

YELLOW-CROWNED HERON.

WILSON, PLATE LXV. FIG. I.

THIS is one of the nocturnal species of the heron tribe, whose manners, place, and mode of building its nest, resemble greatly those of the common night heron, (ardea nycticorax ;) the form of its bill is also similar. The very imperfect figure and description of this species by Catesby seem to have led the greater part of European ornithologists astray, who appear to have copied their accounts from that erroneous source, otherwise it is difficult to conceive why they should either have given it the name of yellow-crowned, or have described it as being only fifteen inches in length; since the crown of the perfect bird is pure white, and the whole length very near two feet. The name, however, erroneous as it is, has been retained in the present account, for the purpose of more particularly pointing out its absurdity, and designating the species.

This bird inhabits the lower parts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana, in the summer season; reposing during the day among low, swampy woods, and feeding only in the night. It builds in societies, making its nest with sticks, among the branches of low trees, and lays four pale blue eggs. This species is not numerous in Carolina, which, with its solitary mode of life, makes this bird but little known there. It abounds on the Bahama Islands, where it also breeds; and great numbers of the young, as we are told, are yearly taken for the table, being accounted in that quarter excellent eating. This bird also extends its migrations into Virginia, and even farther north; one of them having been

shot a few years ago on the borders of Schuylkill below Philadelphia.

The food of this species consists of small fish, crabs, and lizards, particularly the former; it also appears to have a strong attachment to the neighbourhood of the

ocean.

The yellow-crowned heron is twenty-two inches in length, from the point of the bill to the end of the tail; the long flowing plumes of the back extend four inches farther; breadth, from tip to tip of the expanded wings, thirty-four inches; bill, black, stout, and about four inches in length, the upper mandible grooved exactly like that of the common night heron; lores, pale green; irides, fiery red; head and part of the neck, black, marked on each cheek with an oblong spot of white; crested crown and upper part of the head, white, ending in two long narrow tapering plumes of pure white, more than seven inches long; under these are a few others of a blackish colour; rest of the neck and whole lower parts, fine ash, somewhat whitish on that part of the neck where it joins the black; upper parts, a dark ash, each feather streaked broadly down the centre with black, and bordered with white; wingquills, deep slate, edged finely with white; tail, even at the end, and of the same ash colour; wing-coverts, deep slate, broadly edged with pale cream; from each shoulder proceed a number of long loosely webbed tapering feathers, of an ash colour, streaked broadly down the middle with black, and extending four inches or more beyond the tips of the wings; legs and feet, yellow; middle claw, pectinated. Male and female, as in the common night heron, alike in plumage.

I strongly suspect that the species called by natura lists the Cayenne night heron (Ardea Cayanensis,) is nothing more than the present, with which, according to their descriptions, it seems to agree almost exactly.

208. ARDEA CERULEA, LINNÆUS AND WILSON.

BLUE CRANE, OR HERON.

WILSON, PLATE LXII. FIG. III. —EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM.

IN mentioning this species in his translation of the Systema Naturæ, Turton has introduced what he calls two varieties, one from New Zealand, the other from Brazil; both of which, if we may judge by their size and colour, appear to be entirely different and distinct species; the first being green, with yellow legs, the last nearly one half less than the present. By this loose mode of discrimination, the precision of science being altogether dispensed with, the whole tribe of cranes, herons, and bitterns, may be styled mere varieties of the genus ardea. The same writer has still farther increased this confusion, by designating as a different species his bluish heron, (A. cærulescens,) which agrees almost exactly with the present. Some of these mistakes may probably have originated from the figure of this bird given by Catesby, which appears to have been drawn and coloured, not from nature, but from the glimmering recollections of memory, and is extremely erroneous. These remarks are due to truth, and necessary to the elucidation of the history of this species, which seems to be but imperfectly known in Europe.

The blue heron is properly a native of the warmer climates of the United States, migrating from thence, at the approach of winter, to the tropical regions, being found in Cayenne, Jamaica, and Mexico. On the muddy shores of the Mississippi, from Baton Rouge downwards to New Orleans, these birds are frequently met with. In spring they extend their migrations as far north as New England, chiefly in the vicinity of the sea, becoming more rare as they advance to the north. On the sea beach of Cape May, I found a few of them breeding among the cedars, in company with the snowy heron, night heron, and green bittern. The description of the present was taken from two of these,

shot in the month of May, while in complete plumage. Their nests were composed of small sticks, built in the tops of the red cedars, and contained five eggs, of a light blue colour, and of somewhat a deeper tint than those of the night heron. Little or no difference could be perceived between the colours and markings of the male and female. This remark is applicable to almost the whole genus; though, from the circumstance of many of the yearling birds differing in plumage, they have been mistaken for females.

The blue heron, though in the Northern States it be found chiefly in the neighbourhood of the ocean, probably on account of the greater temperature of the climate, is yet particularly fond of fresh water bogs, on the edges of the salt marsh. These it often frequents, wading about in search of tadpoles, lizards, various larvæ of winged insects, and mud worms. It moves actively about in search of these, sometimes making a run at its prey; and is often seen in company with the snowy heron. Like this last, it is also very silent, intent, and watchful.

The genus ardea is the most numerous of all the wading tribes, there being no less than ninety-six different species enumerated by late writers. These are again subdivided into particular families, each distinguished by a certain peculiarity. The cranes, by having the head bald; the storks, with the orbits naked; and the herons, with the middle claw pectinated. To this last belong the bitterns. Several of these are nocturnal birds, feeding only as the evening twilight commences, and reposing either among the long grass and reeds, or on tall trees, in sequestered places, during the day. What is very remarkable, these night wanderers often associate, during the breeding season, with the others, building their nests on the branches of the same tree; and, though differing so little in external form, feeding on nearly the same food, living and lodging in the same place, yet preserve their race, language, and manners, as perfectly distinct from those

of their neighbours, as if each inhabited a separate quarter of the globe.

The blue heron is twenty-three inches in length, and three feet in extent; the bill is black, but from the nostril to the eye, in both mandibles, is of a rich light purplish blue; iris of the eye, gray; pupil, black, surrounded by a narrow silvery ring; eyelid, light blue; the whole head, and greater part of the neck, are of a deep purplish brown; from the crested hindhead shoot three narrow pointed feathers that reach nearly six inches beyond the eye; lower part of the neck, breast, belly, and whole body, a deep slate colour, with lighter reflections; the back is covered with long, flat, and narrow feathers, some of which are ten inches long, and extend four inches beyond the tail; the breast is also ornamented with a number of these long slender feathers; legs, blackish green; inner side of the middle claw pectinated. The breast and sides of the rump, under the plumage, are clothed with a mass of yellowish white unelastic cottony down, similar to that in most of the tribe, the uses of which are not altogether understood. Male and female alike in colour.

The young birds of the first year are destitute of the purple plumage on the head and neck.

209. ARDEA MINOR, WILSON. AMERICAN BITTERN.

WILSON, PLATE LXV. FIG. III.

THIS is another nocturnal species, common to all our sea and river marshes, though nowhere numerous; it rests all day among the reeds and rushes, and, unless disturbed, flies and feeds only during the night. In some places it is called the Indian hen; on the sea coast of New Jersey it is known by the name of dunkadoo, a word probably imitative of its common note. They are also found in the interior, having myself killed one at the inlet of the Seneca lake, in October. It utters, at times, a hollow guttural note among the reeds, but has nothing of that loud booming