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THE GREAT WHITE HERON. 



Ardea occidentalis. 

 plate cclxxxi. 



I AM now about to present you with an account of the habits of the 

 largest species of the Heron tribe hitherto found in the United States, 

 and which is indeed remarkable not only for its great size, but also for 

 the pure white of its plumage at every period of its life. Writers who 

 have subdivided the family, and stated that none of the True Herons are 

 white, will doubtless be startled when they, for the first time, look at my 

 plate of this bird. I think, however, that our endeavours to discover the 

 natural arrangement of things cannot be uniformly successful, and it is 

 clear that he only who has studied all can have much chance of disposing 

 all according to their relations. 



On the 24th of April 1832, I landed on Indian Key in Florida, and 

 immediately after formed an acquaintance with Mr Egan, of whom I have 

 already several times spoken. He it was who first gave me notice of the 

 species which forms the subject of this article, and of which I cannot find 

 any description. The next day after that of my arrival, when 1 was 

 prevented from accompanying him by my anxiety to finish a drawing, 

 he came in with two young birds alive, and another lying dead in a 

 nest, which he had cut off" from a mangrove. You may imagine how 

 delighted I was, when at the very first glance I felt assured that they 

 were difierent from any that I had previously seen. The two living birds 

 were of a beautiful white, slightly tinged with cream-colour, remark- 

 ably fat and strong for their age, which the worthy Pilot said could 

 not be more than three weeks. The dead bird was quite putrid and 

 much smaller. It looked as if it had accidentally been trampled to 

 death by the parent birds ten or twelve days before, the body being 

 almost flat and covered with filth. The nest with the two live birds was 

 placed in the yard. The young Herons seemed quite unconcerned when 

 a person approached them, although on displaying one's hand to them, 

 they at once endeavoured to strike it with their bill. My Newfoundland 

 dog, a well-trained and most sagacious animal, was whistled for and came 



