HERON. 



7-2!) 



species of nymphae called splatterdashes, so abundant 

 along our fresh water ponds and rivers. The heron 

 has great powers of wing, Hying sometimes very high, 

 and to a great distance ; his neck doubled, his head 

 drawn in, and his long legs stretched out behind him, 

 like a tail, and probably serving the same rudder-like 

 office. When he leaves the sea-coast, and traces, on 

 wing, the courses of the creeks and rivers inland, he 

 is said to prognosticate rain ; when downwards, dry 

 weather. He is most jealously watchful of man, so 

 that those who wish to succeed in shooting the heron 

 must approach him entirely unseen and by stratagem." 

 " In our vast fens, meadows, and sea marshes, this 

 stately bird roams at pleasure, feasting on the never- 

 failing magazines of frogs, fish, seeds, and insects, 

 with which they abound, and of which he probably 

 considers himself as the sole lord and proprietor. I 

 have several times seen the white-headed eagle attack 

 and seize the great, heron ; but whether for sport, or 

 to make him disgorge his fish, I am uncertain." 



This is the characteristic heron of the Atlantic 

 shores of the United States, not ranging so far to the 

 north as the St. Lawrence, or very far into the inte- 

 rior. There are many smaller herons in America 

 which are more discursive and migratory on the meri- 

 dian ; but the journeys of this one are chiefly from the 

 sea to the base of the Alleghany mountains and back 

 again. 



GREAT WHITE HERON (A. alba). This species, 

 though inferior in size to the. former, appears very 

 conspicuous from its colour. Some have alleged 

 that it occurs, though exceedingly seldom, as a visi- 

 tant in Britain ; but the fact is not clearly established, 

 neither is it well ascertained whence it would come in 

 the event of its visiting our shores. It is found both 

 in the eastern and in the western continent, or, at all 

 events, there is but little difference between a bird 

 which is known by the same appellation in each ; and 

 as the manners of the great grey heron of America 

 are very similar to those of the common grey heron 

 of Europe, so the manners of those birds which arc 

 referred to this species very much resemble each 

 other. 



The grey herons are resident birds rather than 

 migrants, or, at all events, their excursions are be- 

 tween the shores and the inland in the same locali- 

 ties. The white herons, on the other hand, are 

 emigrants, inhabiting climates farther to the south, 

 where the seasonal alternations of wet and drought 

 are much more marked. In the eastern continent 

 they appear to belong chiefly to the central migra- 

 tion, or that which takes the line of the Caspian and 

 the Black sea ; while in America their range is be- 

 tween the valley of the Mississippi and the humid 

 districts of the northern parts of South America. 

 They are much more numerous in America than in 

 the eastern continent, and distribute themselves as 

 well along the coast as in the central valley. They 

 arrive in the more southeily states early in the spring, 

 proceed northward, and build in the cedar swamps 

 nearly in the same manner as the great herons, which 

 they also resemble in their general manners. The 

 following are the characters of these birds : length 

 from the tip of the bill to the tail three feet and a 

 half ; and extent of the wings about five feet. The 

 feathers of the back extend, however, as much as 

 seven or eight inches beyond the point of the tail. 

 These feathers arise from the lower parts of the sca- 

 pulars and sides of the back. The shafts are long 



and tapering, and the webs consist of delicate fila- 

 ments, very soft, and detached from each other. This 

 plumage is peculiarly graceful and waving ; and it 

 hangs in an elegant curve over the hinder part of the 

 body, completely concealing the tail. The plumes 

 of this heron have at times been much prized in various 

 parts of Europe, as graceful ornaments of the head ; 

 and the American Indians employ them for the same 

 purpose. In the lower valley of the Mississippi they 

 are obtained in such numbers that the Indians hawk 

 them about in the streets of New Holland These 

 produced feathers have a delicate yellowish tinge, 

 but all the rest of the plumage is of snowy whiteness. 

 The bill is about half a foot long, of a bright orange 

 colour, and black at the tip ; the irides are palo 

 orange, and the pupil very small ; the legs are very 

 long and stout, bare for four inches above the tarsal 

 joint, and altogether of a black colour ; the toes are 

 long, the middle and hind one stretching nearly six 

 inches from tip to tip ; the middle claw is toothed on 

 its inner edge, and the middle and exterior toes are 

 united by membrane for about half an inch at the 

 base. This structure of the foot is equally well 

 adapted for walking on aquatic plants and on soft and 

 muddy ground ; and the length and strength of the 

 legs, together with the extent to which they are 

 naked of feathers, enable the bird to wade deeply 

 without wetting its plumage. In the mature state, 

 the male and female resemble each other very closely ; 

 and both have their produced feathers equally long. 

 The young birds are different ; and they do not. 

 acquire their perfect plumage till they are three years 

 old, which indeed is the case with all the herons. 

 The young birds have the common clothing feathers 

 quite like the old ones ; but they have not the pro- 

 duced feathers on the back : this circumstance has 

 caused the old birds and the young to be sometimes 

 described as different species, and at other times the 

 ones without the produced feathers have been consi- 

 dered as the females ; but this is not correct, for both 

 sexes want these feathers while young, and both have 

 them after arriving at maturity. 



This species of heron is very widely distributed, 

 being found as far to the south as India, where it is 

 very abundant in the rainy season, though it disap- 

 pears during the droii-ht. The beauty of its plumage, 

 and the high estimation in which the produced feathers 

 have been held, have made it a bird of no little cele- 

 brity. It is the Egret, or great egret of common 

 description, though we believe the proper meaning 

 of that word is the ornament made of the feathers, 

 and not those feathers as they exist on the bird. 



LITTLE WHITE HERON (A. garzettd). This spe- 

 cies is also very generally distributed, and is still more 

 discursive than the larger one. It occurs most plen- 

 tifully in latitudes and localities similar to those 

 j frequented by the other ; but it ranges farther to 

 the north, and also more extensively in longitude. 

 It is the little egret of the East, and the snowy heron 

 of America. The American one is indeed a little 

 larger in size than the eastern one, and there are some 

 slight differences in the colour of the naked skin ; but 

 those differences do not appear to be greater than 

 they are in the grey heron of the two continents, and 

 certainly they are not greater than might be expected 

 to arise from difference of climate. 



The grand difference between the American con- 

 tinent and the Eastern, is worthy of being attended 

 to in deciding upon what is or is not the same species 



