AVES ARDEID/E. 383 



portions of North America, north to Massachusetts, Illinois and Kansas. 

 Not occurring in the western United States. 



FLORIDA CCRULEA (Linnaeus). 



Atdea ceerulea, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 143 (1758); Burm. La Plata Reis, II. 



p. 509(1861); C. Burm. An. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires, III. part X. p. 



247 (1888: northern Patagonia); Scl. & Huds. Argent. Orn. II. p. 



99 (1889); Carbajal, La Patagonia, part II. p. 272 (1900). 

 Florida carulea, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXVI. p. 100 (1898); id. 



Hand-list B. I. p. 195 (1899) ; Gates, Cat. Birds' Eggs Brit. Mus. 



II. p. 117 (1902). 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



Size. Adult male. (P. U. O. C.4o6o, Panasoffkee Lake, Florida, i 8 

 March 1876, W. E. D. Scott.) 



Total length, 23.0 inches. 



Wing, 10.5. 



Culmen, 3.2. 



Tail, 4.0. 



Tarsus, 3.9. 



Females, adult, average a little smaller than adult males. 



Color. Blue Pliase. Adult male breeding (cited above) head and neck 

 deep plum-color, shaded more or less with slaty blue ; the remaining parts 

 deep slaty blue. 



Head : Rich deep plum-color, shaded with slaty blue. The feathers fine 

 and hair-like in appearance and produced into a long full occipital crest. 



Neck : Rich deep plum-color shaded with slaty blue, and changing in 

 the region near the body to clear slaty blue. The feathers fine and hair- 

 like in general appearance. At the base of the neck, all around, the slaty 

 blue feathers are prolonged into fine plumes which are long and pendant 

 below. 



Back : Scapulars and interscapular region, lower back, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts, deep slaty blue. The feathers of the scapular and interscap- 

 ular region prolonged into plumes of varying length, the longest reaching 

 two or three inches beyond the tail. 



Tail : Slaty blue. 



Wing: Entirely slaty blue, the feathers of the shoulders inclining to be 

 plume-like in character. 



