LOUISIANA HERON. 37 



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 j claws, black, the middle 

 one pectinated. 



The female can scarcely be distinguished by her 

 plumage, having not only the crest, but all the orna- 

 ments 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 have been examined in spring are 

 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 esteemed by some people as excellent eating. 



205. ARDEA LUDOriCIANAy WILSON. LOUISIANA HEROX. 

 WILSON, PLATE LXIV. FIG. I. EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 



THIS is a rare and delicately formed species, occa- 

 sionally found on the swampy river shores of South 

 Carolina, but more frequently along the borders of the 

 Mississippi, particularly below New Orleans. In each 

 of these places it is migratory ; and in the latter, as I 



