Birds of Indiana. 663 



the friend of man. They were sacrificed for the necessity of fashion. 

 "Necessity knows no law." To ornament the devotees of fashion for a 

 brief season it was necessary to destroy one of the most graceful and 

 characteristic ornaments of this beautiful land of ours. 



Subgenus HYDRANASSA Baird. 



69. (199). KArdea tricolor ruficoUis (Gosse). 



Louisiana Heron. 



Adult. — Head, neck and upper parts bluish plumbeous; plumes of 

 occiput and nape, rich maroon purplish and plumbeous-blue; chin and 

 upper part of throat, pure white, continued in streaks, mixed with 

 rufous and plumbeous down the foreneck; scapular plumes, light drab; 

 lower parts, plain white. Immature. — Head and neck, chiefly light 

 rusty; the malar region, chin and throat, pure white; foreneck streaked 

 white and rusty; lower parts, rump and upper tail coverts, pure white; 

 upper parts (except rump, etc.), plumbeous, the back tinged and the 

 wing coverts spotted with rusty; legs, yellowish behind, blackish be- 

 fore; lower mandible and lores, orange; upper mandible, black. 



Length, 23.00-28.00; wing, 8.35-10.80; bill, 3.30-4.15; tarsus, 3.20- 

 4.15. 



Range. — Gulf States, Mexico (both coasts). Central America and 

 West Indies; casually northward to New Jersey and Indiana. 



Nest, similar to that of Snowy Heron. Eggs, 2-4, sometimes 5; 

 bluish-green; 1.75-1.80 by 1.30-1.40. 



Eare summer visitor. Mr. F. T. Jencks identified ft near Hannah, 

 Starke County, in June, 1876. (Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, April, 1877, 

 p. 51.) Mr. E. J. Chansler reports having seen it in Knox County the 

 summer of 1894. 



This is a bird of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. No other records 

 are reported of its occurrence so far inland. 



SuBGRKii.s FLORIDA Baird. 



*70. (200). Ardea caerulea Linn. 



Liittle Blue Heron. 



Adult. — Usually uniform dark slate blue, with maroon-colored head 

 and neck, but not infrequently *'pied," with white, or even almost 

 wholly white, with bluish tips to longer quills. Young. — Usually 

 pure white, with longer quills tipped with slate blue; legs, feet and 

 lores, greenish -yellow. 



