ARDEID.E— THE HERONS. 128 



According to Dr. Brewer, the flight of this species is said to 

 be more elevated and regular than that of the smaller herons. 

 It is peculiarly graceful during the mating season, especially 

 when one unmated male is pursuing another. It is said to pass 

 through the air with great celerity, turning and cutting about 

 in curious curves and zigzags, the pursuing bird frequently 

 erecting its beautiful crest and uttering a cry at the moment 

 it is about to give a thrust at the other. When travelling to 

 and from their feeding-grounds, it propels itself with the usual 

 regular flapping, and in the customary manner of flight oi 

 other herons. On approaching a landing-place, it performs 

 several circumvolutions, as if to satisfy itself that all is safe 

 before alighting. It is much more shy and wary than the smaller 

 herons; and after the breeding season is over it is almost im- 

 possible to shoot one, except when it is taken by surprise, or 

 when flying overhead among the mangroves. 



Subgenus Florida Baird. 



Florida Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 671. Type, Ardea ccerulea Linn. 



Gen. Char. Small Herons, dark plumbeous, with maroon-colored necks; pure white, 

 with bluish tips to some of the primaries; or with the plumage variously intermediate l e- 

 tween these extremes. Bill slender, appreciably curved toward the tip, the culmen some- 

 what depressed just above the anterior end of the nostril; lower edge of the mandibular 

 rami slightly concave, the gonys nearly straight but ascending; anterior point of the 

 malar feathers reaching just about as far forward as that of the frontal feathers, and very 

 far posterior to the posterior end of the nostril; anterior point of chin feathers almost di 

 recti y beneath the anterior end of the nostril, and a little over two thirds the distance from 

 the middle of the eyo to the point of the bill. Toes long, the middle one two thirds, or 

 more, as long as the tarsus, the hallux a little less than half its length; bare portion of tibia 

 considerably less than middle toe. Tarsal scutellse as in Garzetta and Herodias. 



Nuptial plumes (occipital, jugular, and scapular) long, slenderly lanceolate, the webs 

 rather compact, especially those of the dorsal region, the longer scapulars, however, loose- 

 webbed, those of the back reaching, when fully developed, far beyond the tail. 



This subgenus also is peculiar to America, and contains a 

 single species, the Little Blue Heron (Ardea carrulea Linn.), the 

 adults of which are usually dark slaty blue with maroon-chest- 

 nut head and neck and the young pure white with bluish tips 

 to some of the longer primary quills. 



