280 NIGHT HEROR 



it uses with much effect. If you seize it, it utters a loud, rough, con- 

 tinued sound, and tries to make its escape whenever it perceives the least 

 chance. 



The Night Heron undergoes three annual changes of plumage ere it 

 attains its perfect state, although many individuals breed in the spring of 

 the third year. After the first autumnal moult, the young is as you see 

 it represented in the plate. In the second autumn, the markings of the 

 neck and other parts have almost entirely disappeared ; the upper parts 

 of the head have become of a dull blackish-green, mixing near the upper 

 mandible with the dull brown of the first season, while the rest of the 

 plumage has assumed a uniform dull ochreous greyish-brown. In the 

 course of the following season, the bird exhibits the green of the shoulders 

 and back, the head is equally richly coloured, and the frontal band be- 

 tween the upper mandible and the eye, and over the latter, is pure white. 

 At this age it rarely has the slender white feathers of the hind head longer 

 than an inch or two. The sides of the neck, and all the lower parts, 

 have become of a purer greyish- white. The wings are now spotless in 

 all their parts, and of a light brownish-grey, as is the tail. The follow- 

 ing spring, the plumage is complete, and the bird is as represented in the 

 plate. After this period, with the exception of losing its long crest- 

 feathers after the young are hatched, it retains its colouring. No diffe- 

 rence can be observed in the tints of the sexes, but the male is somewhat 

 larger. 



A very considerable difference in size is observable at all seasons in 

 birds of this species. Some that are fully feathered, and therefore at least 

 three years old, measure as much as four inches less than others of the same 

 sex, and weigh less in proportion. These circumstances might suffice 

 with some naturalists to attempt to form two species out of one, but in 

 this they would certainly fail. 



In the neighbourhood of New Orleans, and along the Mississippi, as 

 far up as Natchez, the shooting of this species is a favourite occupation 

 with the planters, who represent it as equalUng any other biid in the de- 

 licacy of its flesh. 



The frog, of which I have introduced a figure, is common in the re- 

 tired swamps which the Night Heron frequents, and is often devoured 

 by it. The flowering plants which you see, are abundant in the States 

 of Georgia and South Carolina, as well as in the Florid as. 



