BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 91 



scientific investigation has unduly developed it, and hence his 

 reason dictates his stomach, but very poorly. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Lower third of tibia bare; above bluish- ash; edges of wing 

 and the tibia rufous; neck cinnamon-brown; head black with a 

 white frontal patch; body beneath black, broadly streaked on 

 the belly "with white; crissum w^hite; middle line of throat white, 

 streaked with black and rufous; bill yellow, dusky at the base 

 and greenish above; forehead and central part of crown white, 

 encircled laterally and behind by black, of which color is the 

 occipital crest and its two elongated feathers; neck, light 

 smoky cinnamon-brown, with a tinge of purple; chin and throat 

 "whitish; the feathers along the central line of the throat to the 

 breast, white, streaked with black and reddish-brown, except 

 on the elongated feathers of the breast; body bluish- ash above 

 and on the sides; the under parts including the tuft of feathers 

 on each side of the breast and belly to the crissum. sooty-black, 

 much varied along the middle line with white; tibia and edge 

 of the wing rufous; quills black, becoming more plumbeous 

 internally until the innermost secondaries are ash, like the back; 

 the elongated tips of the scapular feathers have a whitish shade; 

 tail bluish-slate color; bill yellow, dusky green above; loral 

 and orbital spaces light green; iris yellow; feet olivaceous, 

 paler above the tibiotarsal joint; claws black. 



Length, 42; wing, 18.50; tarsus, 6.50; bill, 5.50. 



Habitat, North America. 



ARDEA EGRETTA Gmelin. (196.) 



AMERICAN EGRET. 



In my list of species observed fifteen years ago I gave this 

 one as an occasional. I had found a representation of it in 

 private collections only, since which time I had met with it in 

 flocks of half a dozen or less a few times, and individuals still 

 more frequently. They have been killed along the bottoms of 

 the Minnesota river occasionally ever since Port Snelling was 

 located, and within the last ten years, one has been obtained 

 on the Red river as far north as Moorhead. A friend of mine 

 brought in a fine male from Big Stone lake last spring (1888) 

 which he has mounted in good order. 



No nests nor young have been reported, but their observa- 

 tion in the warmest days of July lends plausibility to the con- 

 jecture that they may breed here. 



Still, I think it more probable that they are generally strag- 

 glers from flocks located below, along the Mississippi or along 

 the Missouri river. 



