= 
22 
a 
a pean dA (innate lth gens saat? 
2, See Perens 
ent 
ome 
2S REAR SS ata SO 
266 ARDEIDA, HERONS. 
the plumage is nearly unchangeable, are very few. Indeed, probably no birds show 
s y $ ’ dl ; 
greater changes of plumage, with age and season, than nearly all the herons. 
Their beautiful plumes are only worn during the breeding season; the young — 
invariably lack them, and there are still more remarkable changes of plumage 
in many cases. Thus, the young may be pure white while the adults are dark 
colored, as in the small blue heron; and sometimes even, as in the remarkable 
case of our reddish egret, most individuals change from white to a dark 
plumage after two years, while others appear to remain white their whole lives, © 
Fic. 176. Great Blue Heron. a 
and others again are dark from the nest. Many species are pure white at all 
times, and to these the name of ‘“ egret” more particularly belongs ; but I should 
correct a prevalent impression that an egret is anything particularly different 
from other herons. The name, a corruption of the French word “aigrette,” simply 
refers to the plumes that ornament most of the herons, white or otherwise, and 
has no classificatory meaning; its application, in any given instance, is purely 
conventional. The colors of the bill, lores and feet are extremely variable, not 
only with age or season, but as individual peculiarities; sometimes the two legs of 
the same specimen are not colored exactly alike. The 9 is commonly smaller than 
the g. The normal individual variability in stature and relative length of parts 
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