92 NOTES ON THE 



I have never found them later than the 25th of August, yet 

 sportsmen are confident of having seen them in the distance on 

 flat prairies west of the Big Woods as late as the same date in 

 September. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill slender, yellowish to the tip, culmen nearly straight, 

 more convex terminally than the gonys; middle toe more than 

 half the tarsus, outer toe longest, claws moderate, considerably 

 curved; tarsus broadly scutellate anteriorly; head smooth; 

 back, in breeding season with a series of plumes longer than 

 the tail, and curving gently downwards; tail of twelve broad, 

 stiffened feathers; back of neck well feathered; feet black; 

 colors pure white at all times. 



Length, 40; wing, 17; bill, 5; tarsus, 6. 



Habitat, America, chiefly south. 



ARDEA CANDIDISSIMA Gmelin. (197.) 

 SNOWY HERON. 



We must consider this species as in a measure a straggler, 

 so infrequently has it been seen under circumstances of cer- 

 tain identification. 



I have seen them several times when from their smaller size, 

 I could scarcely doubt their being this species, but they were 

 too cautious for me to secure any. I found one in Mr. Howl- 

 ing's collection many years ago and two others since, the lat- 

 ter of which came to him from the Red River country ' 'some- 

 where." Sportsmen claiming to know the species well, insist 

 that they meet considerable numbers of them in both spring 

 and fall shooting along the Minnesota River in occasional 

 years, but I am apprehensive that they confound the other 

 species with it, (A. Egretta), notwithstanding their assur- 

 ances that they can distinguish them. That a few visit us is 

 certain however, and that they go somewhat beyond the lati- 

 tude of St. Paul and Minneapolis cannot be disputed, but sev- 

 eral years have intervened between any observations of their 

 presence by myself or others. They are described as follows: 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill compressed; culmen slightly concave in the basal two- 

 thirds, terminally more convex than the gonys; middle toe 

 three-fourths the tarsus; tibia bare for nearly one-half; occiput 

 with a full crest of loosely fibred feathers as long as the bill; 

 feathers on lower part of throat somewhat similar; middle of 

 back with a series of plumes, with the fibrillas distant and 

 lengthened, plumes recurved at the tip, where the fibrillse of 



