THF, CRKAT UIlllE 71KRON'. 49!t 



rivers, and similar places ; where, from its size and colour, it is very conspicuous, even at 

 a great distance. 



The appearance of the Great White Ilcron, during the first season, wlien it is entirely 

 destitute of the long flowing plumes of the back, is so different from that of the bird in 

 its fidl plumage, which it obtains in the third year, that naturalists and others generally 

 consider them as two species. 



This bird breeds in several of the e.xtensive cedar-swamps in the lower parts of New 

 •Torse}^ Their nests are built in societies, on the trees. The eggs are usually four, of a 

 pale-blue colour. In the months of July and August, the young make their first 

 appearance in the meadows and marshes, in parties of twentj- or thirtj^ together. The 

 large ditches, with which the extensive meadows below Philadelphia are intersected, are, 

 about that season, regularlj^ visited by tlocks of these birds ; tliese are frequently shot, 

 but the old birds are too sagacious to be easily approached. Their food consists of frogs, 

 lizards, small fish, insects, seeds of the .splatterdock (a species of ni/iiipha'), and small 

 water-snakes. 



The long plumes of these birds have, at various periods, been in great request in 

 Europe, particularly in France and Italy, for (he purpose of adorning head-dresses. 



