SNOWY HERON. 81 



and sheltered from the Atlantic by ranges of sand-hills. The ce- 

 dars, though not high, were so closely crowded together, as to 

 render it difficult to penetrate through among them. Some trees 

 contained three, others four, nests, built wholly of sticks. Each 

 had in it three eggs of a pale greenish blue colour, and measur- 

 ing an inch and three quarters in length, by an inch and a quar- 

 ter in thickness. Forty or fifty of these eggs were cooked, and 

 found to be well tasted; the white was of a bluish tint, and al- 

 most transparent, though boiled for a considerable time; the 

 yelk very small in quantity. The birds rose in vast numbers, 

 but without clamour, alighting on the tops of the trees around, 

 and watching the result in silent anxiety. Among them were 

 numbers of the Night Heron, and two or three Purple-headed 

 Herons. Great quantities of egg shells lay scattered under the 

 trees, occasioned by the depredations of the Crows, who were 

 continually hovering about the place. On one of the nests I 

 found the dead body of the bird itself, half devoured by the 

 Hawks, Crows, or Gulls. She had probably perished in defence 

 of her eggs. 



The Snowy Heron is seen at all times, during summer, among 

 the salt marshes, watching and searching for food; or passing, 

 sometimes in flocks, from one part of the bay to the other. 

 They often make excursions up the rivers and inlets; but return 

 regularly, in the evening, to the red cedars on the beech, to 

 roost. I found these birds on the Mississippi, early in June, as 

 far up as fort Adams, roaming about among the creeks, and 

 inundated woods. 



The length of this species is two feet one inch; extent three 

 feet two inches; the bill is four inches and a quarter long, and 

 grooved; the space from the nostril to the eye orange yellow, 

 the rest of the bill black; irides vivid orange; the whole plu- 

 mage is of a snowy whiteness; the head is largely crested with 

 loose unwebbed feathers, nearly four inches in length ; another 

 tuft of the same covers the breast; but the most distinguished 

 ornament of this bird is a bunch of long silky plumes, proceed- 

 ing from the shoulders, covering the whole back, and extending 



VOL. in. M 



