386 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



crown, but all birds in this plumage always Jiave the tips of the primaries 

 more or less shaded with blue. 



Late in the first year, before the first breeding season, many of the birds 

 of the year become mottled with many dark slaty blue feathers ; this is pre- 

 sumably accomplished by a partial moult and the disposal of the dark 

 color is entirely irregular and uneven on the two sides of the body of the 

 same bird. Often the larger feathers are particolored. Birds in Florida 

 are found on numerous occasions breeding in this plumage. P. U. O. 

 C. 405, Breeding Female, Old Tampa Bay, Florida, 4 February, 1880. 

 (W. E. D. Scott.) 



Bill : Dull sage green, darkening terminally. 



Iris : Straw color. 



Legs and Feet : Dull sage green. 



Region about eyes and lores : Dull sage green. 



Fig. 204. 



Florida ccerulea. Nestling, half grown. 4046 Princeton University Collection. About }4, 

 natural size. 



Nestling (half grown, almost fully feathered). (P. U. O. C. 4046, 

 Male, mouth of Old Tampa Bay, Florida, 26 May, 1880, James Henry 

 Devereux.) 



This bird is pure white throughout, except that the tips of the primaries 

 are marked, or shaded with smoky, brownish blue. 



Other young birds about the same age are similar, but some have a 

 shading of blue on the crown and a few have traces of shading of a similar 

 color on the interscapular region. The amount of bluish on the tips of 

 the primaries varies much, but is always present, not only in the young, but 

 /// all examples of the white phase of plumage of this heron, and readily 

 distinguishes it from any other small white heron found in America. 



