64 BLUE HERON. 
the white was still prevalent. I have shot some in Louisiana, in au- 
tumn, in the same curious dress. 
This species, though larger than the Snowy Heron, Ardea candidis- 
sima, is considerably inferior to it in courage ; and I was much amused 
as well as surprised, when at Galveston Bay, on the 24th of April 
1837, to see one of that species alight near a Purple Heron, attack it, 
and pursue it as far as I could follow them with my eyes. When the 
Blue Herons are on the sea-coast they not unfrequently repose on the 
large mud or sand bars, at some distance from the adjacent marshes ; 
but they generally prefer roosting on trees or bushes, when there are 
any in their neighbourhood. The Creoles of Louisiana not unfrequently 
eat the flesh of this species, and although they by no means consider it 
equal to that of the Night Heron, some of them have assured me that 
it is not bad food. Like other birds of this family, they become larger 
with age, and the male is usually somewhat superior in size to the 
female ; but, with this exception, no difference can be perceived in the 
external appearance of the sexes. 
ARDEA c@RULEA Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. 1. p. 238.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. it. p. 689. 
ARDEA C@RULEA, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis, p. 300. 
Biur Heron, Arprea ceruLEA, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 117. pl. 62. fig. 3. 
Adult. 
Brus Heron, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 58. 
Adult Male in full plumage. Plate CCCVI. Fig. 1. 
Bill much longer than the head, rather slender, very slightly decurved, 
compressed, tapering to apoint. Upper mandible with the dorsal line 
nearly straight for two-thirds of its length, then slightly decurved, the 
ridge convex, broad at the base, gradually narrowed to the point; a 
groove from the base to near the end, the sides convex beneath, the 
edges thin and sharp, with a slight notch close to the tips. _ Nostrils 
basal, linear, longitudinal, with a membrane above and behind. Lower 
mandible with the angle extremely narrow and elongated, the dorsal 
line beyond it ascending and almost straight, the sides sloping outwards, 
and flattened, the edges sharp and slightly inflected, the tip acumi- 
nate. 
Head rather small, oblong, compressed. Neck very long and slen- 
der. Body slender and compressed. Feet very long; tibia elongated, 
