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plumes white. The length and form of the bill is at all times suf- 

 ficient to determine this species. Adult with the bill brownish- 

 black above, yellow beneath ; head and sides of the neck blue, 

 tinged with purplish-red ; upper part of the throat white, lower 

 part reddish ; a longitudinal line on the fore neck, the feathers at 

 base white, succeeded by reddish-brown, and broadly tipped with 

 purplish-blue ; upper parts light purplish-blue ; the loose hairy 

 featherson the hind part of the back dull purplish-yellow; lower 

 parts white ; feet greenish-yellow ; the feathers on the head and 

 neck are long and tapering, with the six longest feathers of the 

 head white ; the plumage on the hind part of- the back is very 

 long, extending beyond the tail, which is even, of a fine slate co- 

 lor. Length twenty-seven inches, wing ten and seven-eighths. 



This is another of those birds that chiefly inhabit the warmer 

 parts of the Union. Its occurrence as far eastward as the locality 

 from which we are describing, is so exceedingly rare, that with us 

 it may be considered entirely accidental. A single specimen, shot 

 near Patchogue in the summer of 1836, is the only individual of 

 this species that I have known to be procured in this vicinity. 



According to Mr. Audubon, " it is a resident in the Floridas 

 and Texas, where it is abundant. Migrates eastward to New Jer- 

 sey, where it is rare, and up the Mississippi to Natchez. Never 

 seen far inland." 



ARDEA COERULEA— LINN. 

 BLUE HERON. 



Blue Heron, Ardea coenjlea, Wils. Amer. Orn. 



Blue Heron, Nutl. Man. 



Blue Heron, Ardea coerulea, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character — Bill rather slender, at base blue, toward the 

 point black, about three inches and a half long; head and neck 

 purple, with a longitudinal blue line on the fore neck ; the feathers 

 on the upper part of the head long and slender those on the occiput 

 much longer ; general color of the plumage blue ; the feathers on 



