1848.] 127 



since generously added to our rich collections. My friend Dr. A. L. Herrnnan 

 has given me one of four specimens obtained in a recent trip to Florida, with 

 the following memorandum. "On Saturday. May 6th, while fishing in the ever- 

 glades near the source of the Miami river, I shot four of these birds, of which 

 two were females and the others young; the latter showing by their plumage 

 that they had been bred in the country. On dissecting them, I found their 

 stomachs filled with a species of snail, which lives on the rank grasses of the 

 everglades. They seemed unaware of danger, and were sailing together in the 

 manner of the Mississippi Kite. I also saw on the 8th of May, seven of these 

 birds in the air over Col. English's plantation, who informed me that it was by 

 no means a rare bird in that part of the country." 



All the specimens are in immature plumage, and vary considerably. They 

 are above dark brown, beneath dull white, much blotched with brown : the 

 shoulders, and under wing coverts particularly, strongly tinged with ferruginous. 

 The front and throat are sometimes nearly pure white, but generally tinged with 

 ferruginous and streaked with brown. 



The plumage of the adult, is of a nearly uniform blackish brown, with the tail 

 at its base, and upper and under coverts, pure white. 



ViREO ALTiLOQucs, (Vicill.) Gray. 



MuHcicupa ultUoqua, Vieill. Ois. d'Amer. Sept. vol. 1, p. 67, pi. 38; Ed- 

 wards' Nat. Hist. Eds. pi. 2.53 ; Vireo longirostris. Swains ; Faun. Bor. Amer. 

 Bds. p. 237 ; Nutt. Man, Orn. vol. 2, p. 278 ; V. ulivaceus, Gosse, Bds. of 

 Jamaica. 



Though long since suspected by Nuttall as occasionally straying into the 

 forests of the Southern States, this species has only recently been actually de. 

 tected by Dr. Herrman in the peninsula of Florida. He found it rather common 

 about Charlotte Harbour and procured several specimens. In their search for 

 food he observed them clinging to the branches with the back downwards, and 

 found their stomachs filled with coleopterous insects and flies. 



Egretta PEAI.EI, (Bonap.) Gamb. 



Ardea Ftcilci, Bonap. Amer. Orn. vol. 4, pi. 90 ; Nutt. Man. Orn. vol. 2, p. 

 49; A. rufescens, young, Aud. Bonap. Gray. 



Peale's Egret has, I am satisfied, been too hastily considered as the young of 

 the Reddish Egret, strange to say, even by Bonaparte himself,* who, in the 

 article upon that bird in the continuation of Amer. Orn., has so well examined 

 the family to which it belongs, and particularly states, that they do not acquire 

 their full plumage uniil the third year ; young birds being always destitute of the 

 peculiar ornamental plumes. Now the well known fact that the Herons when 

 young do not have the elongated feathers of the adult, is priina facta evidence 

 that E. Pcu/ei cannot be the young of E. ri/fiscc7is, when it is ornamented with 

 plumes quite as long and full, and neither in bill or any other part, shows the 

 slightest trace of immaturity. But to Dr. Herrman we are indebted for the means 

 of settling the question beyond dispute. 



* Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America. 



