BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



259 



and yellow ; lores yellow ; iris 

 red. FoMng; Without plumes; 

 head and neck mostly rusty ; 

 upper parts plumbeous mark- 

 ed with rusty; otherwise 

 similar to the adult. 



Length 23-28 inches; 

 extent 36-40; wing 8.5-1 i; 

 tail 3.5; bill 3.6-5; tarsus 

 3.5-4; tibia bare 2.25 ; middle 

 toe and claw 3. 



Distribution. It ranges 

 through tropical and austral 

 North America, rarely north 

 to New Jersey and Indiana. 

 Its only claim to a place in 

 the New York list rests on 

 "a single specimen shot near 

 Patchogue in the summer of 

 1836" [Giraud, Birds of Long 

 Island, p. 282]. 



Louisiana heron. Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis 

 (Gosse). From specimen in State Museum, i nat. size 



Florida caerulea (Linnaeus) 



Little Blue Heron 



Ardea caerulea Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 1:143 



DeKay. Zoo'l. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 222 

 A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 200 



jlor'ida, named for the state; caeril'lea, Lat., blue 



Description. Adult: Usual phase slaty blue, becoming purplish chest- 

 nut or maroon colored on the head and neck; base of bill and bare loral 

 space blue; tip of bill and legs black; eyes yellow. Young (and sometimes 

 adults): Ptu-e white, the longer quills tipped with bluish slate. Speci- 

 mens varied with patches of white are not uncommon. In the young, 

 the legs, feet and lores are mostly greenish yellow, usually showing some 

 trace of bluish. 



Distinguishing marks. The slaty blue wing tips and the greenish 



yellow legs distinguish the white phase of this bird from the Snowy heron 



