BIRDS — AEDEIDAE — DEMIEGRETTA LUDOVICIANA. 663 



are chiefly in the iluUer blue of the body, and the absence of the decided reddish of the neck. 

 The bill is black at the end and reddish at the base. 



Audubon and, latterly, Bonaparte, have united the H. pealeii and rufa into one, considering 

 the former as the two-years stage of the latter, and, as such, capable of reproduction. I agree 

 with Dr. Gambel in considering them to be distinct, as the immature H. rufescens is now well 

 known as described above. Judging from the specimens before me, the pealeii has shorter toes 

 and longer tarsi than the other. 



List of specimens. 



DEMIEGRETTA LUDOVICIANA, Baird. 

 Louisiana Heron. 



Jlrdea ludoviciana, Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 1814, 13 ; pL xvi, f. 1, (not of Linnaeus, which is Butorides virescens .) — 

 Bon. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 192.— Nuttall, Man. II, 1834, 51.— Aud. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 

 136: V, 605 ; pi. 217.— Ie. Syn. 266.— Is. Birds Amer. VI, 1813, 156 ; pi. 373. 



Egretta ludoviciana, Bonap. List, 1838. 



Jirdtaltucogaster, Ord ed. Wilson, VIII, 125, 13.— ? Wagler, Syst. At. 1827, No. 14. 



£gre(/o ru/icoi/is, GossE, Birds Jam. 1847, 338. 



Herodias ruficollis, Ck-b , Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 342. 



Herodias leucoprymna, "Licht." Bonap. Consp. II, Jan. 1855,124. 



Sp. Ch. — Slaty blue on head, neck, and exposed portion of body above ; lower back, rump, under parts, longest occipital 

 eathers and the middle line of the throat, white ; occiput, nape, and neck behind, purplish. Bill brownish black above and at 

 tip. Legs yellowish green. Young with the blue of head and neck replaced by purplish rufous, blotched with blue. 



Length, 25 ; wing, 10.50 ; tarsus, 4 ; bill above, 4. 



Hab. — Coast of South Atlantic and Gulf States. 



Bill very slender and much attenuated, as long as the tarsus ; the upper and lower outlines nearly 

 straight, or slightly concave to near the tip, when they become gently convex. Legs rather 

 short ; middle toe about three-fourths the tarsus ; inner lateral toe decidedly more than half the 

 tarsus. Head with an elongated occipital crest, the longest feather the length of the toes ; the 

 feathers composing it as well as those covering the neck all round, and the upper part of the 

 back, are lanceolate, acute, and well defined in their outlines. The lower part of the back, 

 with a plumose train of feathers with the fibrillae distant, elongated, fastigiate, and nearly 

 straight, or curving gently downwards. In the specimen before me this train is a little longer 

 than the tail, but, according to Mr. Audubon, it becomes sometimes lengthened to such a degree 

 a^ to sweep the ground. 



The prevailing color of this species on the head, neck, wing, tail, and exposed portion of the 

 body above, is slaty blue ; the occiput, nape, and lower part of neck, (except inferiorly,) purplish. 

 The six or eight longest feathers of the occipital crest, the chin, and central line of the throat, 

 and the entire body, white, except the interscapular region. The white of the lower back and 

 rump is concealed by the train, the feathers of which have concealed white at the base, and are 

 of light brownish, tinged with purple. 



