82 SNOWY HERON. 



beyond the tail: the shafts of these are six or seven inches long, 

 extremely elastic, tapering to the extremities, and thinly set 

 with long siender bending threads or fibres, easily agitated by 

 the slightest motion of the air these shafts curl upwards at the 

 ends. When the bird is irritated, and erects those airy plumes, 

 they have a very elegant appearance; the legs, and naked part 

 of the thighs, are black; the feet bright yellow; claws black, the 

 middle one pectinated. 



The female can scarcely be distinguished by her plumage, 

 having not only the crest, but all the ornaments of the male, 

 though not quite so long and flowing. 



The young birds of the first season are entirely destitute of 

 the long plumes of the breast and back; but, as all those that 

 were examined in spring were found crested and ornamented 

 as above, they doubtless receive their full dress on the first 

 moulting. Those shot in October measured twenty-two inches 

 in length, by thirty-four in extent; the crest was beginning to 

 form; the legs yellowish green, daubed with black; the feet 

 greenish yellow; the lower mandible white at the base; the 

 wings, when shut, nearly of a length with the tail, which is 

 even at the end. 



The little Egret, or European species, is said by Latham and 

 Turton to be nearly a foot in length; Bewick observes, that it 

 rarely exceeds a foot and a half; has a much shorter crest, with 

 two long feathers; the feet are black; and the long plumage of 

 the back, instead of turning up at the extremity, falls over the 

 rump. 



The young of both these birds are generally very fat, and es- 

 teemed by some people as excellent eating. 



Note CATESBT represents the bill of this bird as red, and 

 this error has been perpetuated by all succeeding ornithologists. 

 The fact is, that the bills of young Herons are apt to assume a 

 reddish tint after death, and this was evidently mistaken by 

 Catesby for a permanent living colour; and represented as such 



