PE ALE'S EGRET HERON. 



is extended beyond the middle of the mandible, is exceedingly narrow, 

 very acute, and feathered : the lora are naked, as well as a portion of 

 the orbits. The nostrils, not quite basal, are placed in the furrow, and 

 are linear, longitudinal, pervious, and above half closed by a naked 

 membrane. The tongue is half the length of the bill, acute, very entire, 

 narrow, membranous, and rather flattened. The body is much com- 

 pressed. The feet are equilibrate, long and four-toed : the tarsus is 

 always longer than the middle toe, sometimes barely so, sometimes a 

 great deal : in some species the tibia is almost entirely naked, whilst in 

 others it is on the contrary nearly all feathered : the toes arc elongated, 

 slender, narrowly bordered by a membrane, all unequal ; the middle is 

 connected to the outer one by a membrane that extends to the end of 

 the first joint; the inner, toe, a little shorter than the outer, is merely 

 furnished with a very minute basal membrane : the hind toe is long, 

 half equal to the middle one, and all bearing on the ground, being 

 inserted opposite to the inner toe: the nails are compressed, falcate, 

 the hind one largest : the middle one is dilated on the inside into a pec- 

 tinated sharp edge. The coverings of the tarsi are transversely clypeate, 

 the upper and lower clypei being scutelliform, the opisotarsus and knee 

 are covered with small hexagonal scales ; the toes are scutellated. These 

 various forms of the scales are represented with inimitable accuracy by 

 Mr. Lawson in the plate of Peale's Egret. The wings are broad, obtuse, 

 tuberculated, the three outer primaries being longest, and the third 

 hardly shorter than the two first. The tail is short and obtuse, and 

 composed of ten or twelve feathers. The feathers of the lower neck 

 before in the adult bird are pendulous, elongated, mostly acuminate, 

 narrow or ragged : on the occiput and back they are in many species 

 elongated, sericeous, either linear, or laciniate-lacerated, seldom dense, 

 oblong or rounded at the end ; the neck is bare at base on the sides, 

 but concealed by a tuft of longish plumes originating at the shoulders: 

 the neck-feathers in some species are short and closely pressed to the 

 body; in others they are softer, longer, especially on the sides, and 

 woolly at base : the tail-feathers are always rounded at the end ; those 

 of the lower parts of the body are longish with the webs disjoined, and 

 the barbs plumulose at base : the down is silky. 



The females arc like the males : the young are different from the 

 adults, only obtaining their full plumage after the third year. They 

 moult annually. The adults are ornamented by long slender feathers, 

 which they lose in moulting, and do not acquire again for some time, 

 when they resemble the young. 



These birds are remarkably dull : they inhabit marshes, or watch 

 perched on trees near the water for their prey, which tlic cotjformation 

 of their feet enables them to do with ease. They feed exclusively on 

 animals, especially fishes and reptiles, but likewise large insects, and 



