AVES ARDEID/E. 383 



portions of North America, north to Massachusetts, Illinois and Kansas. 

 Not occurring in the western United States. 



Florida C/Erulea (Linnaeus). 



Ardea cccrulca, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 143 (1758); Burm. La Plata Reis, II. 



p. 509 (1861); C. Burm. An. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires, III. part X. p. 



247 (1888: northern Patagonia); Scl. & Huds. Argent. Orn. II. p. 



99 (1889); Carbajal, La Patagonia, part II. p. 272 (1900). 

 Florida ccerulea, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXVI. p. 100 (1898); id. 



Hand-list B. I. p. 195 (1899) ; Gates, Cat. Birds' Eggs Brit. Mus. 



II. p. 1 17 (1902). 



General description. 



Size. — Adult male. (P. U. O. C. 4060, Panasoffkee Lake, Florida, 18 

 March 1876, W. E. D. Scott.) 



Total length, 23.0 inches. 



Wing, 10.5. 



Culmen, 3.2. 



Tail, 4.0. 



Tarsus, 3.9. 



Females, adult, average a little smaller than adult males. 



Color. Blue Phase. — Adult male breeding (cited above) head and neck 

 deep plum-color, shaded more or less with slaty blue ; the remaining parts 

 deep slaty blue. 



Head : Rich deep plum-color, shaded with slaty blue. The feathers fine 

 and hair-like in appearance and produced into a long full occipital crest. 



Neck: Rich deep plum-color shaded with slaty blue, and changing in 

 the region near the body to clear slaty blue. The feathers fine and hair- 

 like in general appearance. At the base of the neck, all around, the slaty 

 blue feathers are prolonged into fine plumes which are long and pendant 

 below. 



Back : Scapulars and interscapular region, lower back, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts, deep slaty blue. The feathers of the scapular and interscap- 

 ular region prolonged into plumes of varying length, the longest reaching 

 two or three inches beyond the tail. 



Tail : Slaty blue. 



Wing : Entirely slaty blue, the feathers of the shoulders inclining to be 

 plume-like in character. 



