GREAT WHITE HERON. 47 



ridges of the wings of a dark purplish rust color. Whole upper 

 parts of the wings, tail, and body, light ash 3 the latter ornamented 

 with a profusion of long, narrow, white, tapering feathers, origi- 

 nating on the shoulders or upper part of the back, and falling grace- 

 fully over the wings. Primaries very dark slate color. Naked thighs 

 brownish yellow. Legs, brownish black, tinged with yellow, and 

 netted with seams of whitish. Bill 8 inches long, and 1^ in width; 

 yellow, in some blackish, on the ridge ; very sharp at the point and 

 edges, and slightly serrated near the extremity. Space around the 

 eye, from the nostril, of a light purplish blue. Iris orange. 



GREAT WHITE HERON. 



(Ardea egretta, Gmel. Wilson, vii. p. 106, pi. 61, fig. 4. A. alba, 

 BoNAP. nee. Lin. Bonap. Am. Orn. iv. p. 97. A. leuce, Temm. 

 Phil. Museum, No. 3754. Young, 3755.) 



Sp. Charact. — Without crest; snowy white ; bill bright yellow ; 

 legs black, very long and stout, naked for four inches above the 

 tarsus. — Adult, the back furnished with long flowing stout plumes, 

 extending beyond the tail. — Young and moulting birds without the 

 dorsal train. 



This tall and elegant Heron is, in America, chiefly con- 

 fined to the warmer and more temperate regions. From 

 Guiana, and even far beyond the equator in South Amer- 

 ica,* it is seen to reside as far to the north as the state of New 

 York. In the old continent, the very nearly allied A. alba 

 is met with on the borders of the Caspian and Black seas, 

 on the shores of the Irtish, and the lakes of Tartary, even as 

 far as the 53d parallel ; and a straggler is now and then 

 met with in Great Britain. Towards the close of February, 

 our species is seen to arrive in Georgia from its warmer 

 hybernal resorts. At all times it appears to have a predi- 



* According to the Prince of Musignano, this species is mentioned by d'Azara, 

 and he has himself received it from Surinam. 



