NORTH AMEEICAN MARSH BIRDS 173 



"army brown" basally to "fawn color" and "vinaceous fawn" 

 terminally; the back is clothed in long, soft down, "fuscous" to 

 •'hair brown" in color; the under parts are scantily covered with 

 coarse, white down; the bill, feet, and naked skin are light green, 

 yellowish in the Hghtest parts of the bill and feet. 



The Juvenal plumage appears iirst on the back which is soon well 

 feathered, then on the head, neck, and under parts, followed by the 

 wings and lastly the tail; the flight feathers are not fully out until 

 the young bird is fully grown. In full juvenal plumage, the head 

 and neck are deep "chestnut" or bright "bay"; the tliroat, a narrow 

 stripe down the front of the neck and the underparts are white ; the 

 mantle, wings, and tail are "dark Quaker drab," with "chestnut" 

 tips on all the wing coverts, and more or less "chestnut" on the 

 back. This plumage is worn through the winter with little change, 

 except that bluish gray feathers gradually replace the brown ones 

 and a partial prenuptial molt produces, by February or March, a 

 plumage which somewhat resembles that of the winter adult; the 

 white has increased on the underparts and there is more white and 

 brown in the throat stripe ; rudimentary plumes and long feathers 

 have appeared on the back; but considerable chestnut still remains 

 in the neck, shoulders, and lesser wing coverts; and the juvenal wings, 

 with their chestnut edgings, have not been molted. 



A complete postnuptial molt occurs during the following summer 

 and fall after which the young bird is practically indistinguishable 

 from the adult, at an age of 15 or 16 months. 



Adults have a complete postnuptial molt in summer and early fall 

 and a partial prenuptial molt in February and March, which does 

 not include the flight feathers. The special adornments of the 

 nuptial plumage are the long white head plumes, which form a part 

 of the nuptial display and are lacking in the fall; but the "purple- 

 drab" or " vinaceous purple" head plumes, the long feathers of the 

 same colors on the neck, breast, and shoulders, and the "cinnamon- 

 drab" back plumes are all much more highly developed in the spring 

 than in the fall, though all but the white head plumes are present 

 in fall adults to a limited extent. 



Professor Huxley says, in his notes: 



Although the sexes are qualitatively similar, it is ray experience that there is 

 normally a quantitive difference between the birds of each pair, in respect of 

 brilliance and epi^amic structures, the male having the brighter colors and the 

 longer crest and aigrettes. In spite of this, the best adorned females are consider- 

 ably above the level of the least brilliant males. This implies that assertive 

 mating must occur, so that a well adorned male tends to mate with a well adorned 

 female, and vice versa. 



Food. — The Louisiana heron seeks its food to some extent in the 

 shallow bays and estuaries along the coast, but more often around 



