SNOWY HERON. 319 



tical form, and having a plain pale bluish-green colour. In the Middle 

 Districts, the usual time of laying is about the middle of May ; in the 

 Carolinas a month sooner ; and in the Floridas still earlier, as there, on 

 the 19th of May, I found the young in great numbers walking off their 

 nests on the mangrove branches, and, like those of the Louisiana Heron, 

 which also breeds in the same places, trying to escape by falling into the 

 water below, and swimming in search of hiding-places among the roots 

 and hanging branches. Both sexes incubate. Many of the eggs are de- 

 stroyed by Crows and Turkey Buzzards, which also devour the young, 

 and many are carried off by men. 



The young acquire the full beauty of their plumage in the course of 

 the first spring, when they can no longer be distinguished from the old 

 birds. The legs and feet are at first of a darkish olive, as is the bill, ex- 

 cept at the base, where it is lighter, and inclining to yellow. At the ap- 

 proach of autumn, the crest assumes a form, and the feathers of the lower 

 parts of the neck in front become considerably lengthened, the feet ac- 

 quire a yellow tint, and the legs are marked with black on a yellowish 

 ground ; but the flowing feathers of the back do not appear until the ap- 

 proach of spring, when they grow rapidly, become recurved, and remain 

 until the young are hatched, when they fall off. 



The Snowy Heron, while in the Carolinas, in the month of April, re- 

 sorts to the borders of the salt-water marshes, and feeds principally on 

 shrimps. Many individuals which I opened there contained nothing else 

 in their stomach. On the Mississippi, at the time when the shrimps are 

 ascending the stream, these birds are frequently seen standing on floatinp- 

 logs, busily engaged in picking them up ; and on such occasions their 

 pure white colour renders them conspicuous and highly pleasing to the 

 eye. At a later period, they feed on small fry, fiddlers, snails, aquatic 

 insects, occasionally small lizards and young frogs. Their motions are 

 generally quick and elegant, and, while pursuing small fishes, they run 

 swiftly through the shallows, throwing up their wings. Twenty or thirty 

 seen at once along the margins of a marsh or a river, while engaged in 

 procuring their food, form a most agreeable sight. In autumn and early 

 spring, they are fond of resorting to the ditches of the rice fields, not un- 

 frequently in company with the Blue Herons. When, on being wound- 

 ed in the wing one falls into the water, it swims off" towards the nearest 

 shore, and runs to hide itself by the side of some log, or towards a tree 

 which if possible it climbs, ascending to its very top. When seized, they 



