ON THE SHORE 373 



"This Blue Heron, you will find, has no sweeter 

 voice than his night-flying cousin, antl, like the latter, 

 nests in colonies in the trees ; but afterward he travels 

 about alone, as the Bittern does. " 



The Snowy Egret 

 (The Bonnet INLvrtyr) 



Length about two feet. 



Pure white all over, with a bunch of many long slender plumes 

 growing between the shoulders, and shorter ones on the head and 

 neck, in the nesting season. Feet and legs black. Toes yellow. 

 Bill black and yellow. 



A Citizen of temperate and tropical America. 



A member of the guild of Wise Watchers, whose food and habits 

 are the same as those of most other Herons, and who, if he does us 

 no special good service, is perfectly innocent, and should never be 

 butchered to make a woman's Easter holiday bonnet. 



He has a larger brother called the American ^Vhite Egret, as 

 pure white as himself, but three feet or more instead of only two 

 feet long, with the plumes hanging down over his tail instead of 

 curled up, and none growing on his head. 



The Great Blue Heron 

 (Or Blue Giant) 



Length about four feet. 



Plumage mostly slate-gray or bluish-ash, but black and white on 

 the head and each side of the breast, and chestnut on the bend of 

 the wing. A crest on the back of the head, a fringe of long feath- 

 ers at the root of the neck in front, and another on the back in the 

 breeding season. Feathers on upper part of the legs reddish-brown, 

 the bare scaly part black; bill yellow and greenish, with black on 

 top; bare skin between it and the eyes blue. 



A Citizen of North America. 



A member of the guild of Wise AVatchers who is wise enough 

 to mind his own business and do nobody any harm, though he is 

 not inclined to be sociable with House People. 



