HERONS. 207 



165. LOUISIANA HERON. 



Medium, 25; neck and bill long and 

 slender. Head, neck and back plumes 

 preser&t; above, ash-blue; line down neck in 

 front, reddish and white; beneath, white; 

 bill, black, blue at base; feet, gray, fig. 151. 

 In winter, bill and feet greenish, changing 

 to yellow towards spring. Young, much 

 tinged with reddish. Wing-beats, rapid. 

 Solitary when not mating. Resident in 

 Gulf States, Mex., C. A., Bahamas and W. 

 L, casual northward to N. J. and Ind. 



166. LITTLE BLUE HERON. 



Smaller, 22; dark slaty blue; head and 

 neck, maroon, fig. 152; this is the usual dress 

 but specimens occur which have the plumage 

 much mixed with white. Young, always 

 white with the tips of primaries bluish at 

 base, and feet greenish. Very agile; springs 

 quickly into air to fly with rapid wing-beats. 

 Eastern U. S., from N. J., 111. and Kan. 

 south to Bahamas, W. I. to northern S. A., 

 casually north along coast to Mass, and 

 Me.; winters, from N. C., south. 



