166 BIRDS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



103. Florida csenilea. 

 Little Blue Heron. 



Ardea ccerulea Linn. Svst. Xat. i. p. 143, 1758 (Carolina) ; Salvin, Ibis, 



1886, p. 169. 

 Florida ccerulea Shai-pe, Cat. B. Brit, ^l^^s. sxvi. pp. 100, 271. 1898 ; 



Beebe, Om- Search for a Wilderness, p. 154. 1910 (Waini) ; 



Braboume & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 49, no. 465, 1912. 

 Ardea ccerulescens Cab. in Schomb. Beis. Guian. iii. p. 753, 1848. 



Adult female {in hreed'ing-plumage). General colour above and 

 below dark slate-grej with long, lanceolate, ornamental plumes on 

 the back and breas>t ; head and neck all round as well as the throat 

 deep maroon with a tinge of grey on the crown of the head and 

 hind-neck, the nape is ornamented with long lanceolate plumes. 

 " Bill light plumbeous on the basal half, terminal half black, lores 

 and eyelids very pale dull greenish ; legs and feet uniform pea- 

 green, darker at the joints ; iris sulphur-yellow." 



Total length 4:b% mm., culmen 84, -wing 255, tail %&, tarsus 94. 



The female described "was collected on the Supenaam River. 



Adult male. Similar to the adult female. 



Total length 500 mm., culmen 77, ^ving 207, tail 88, tarsus 93. 



Two young examples of this species, one obtained on the Abary 

 Kiver in November 190G and the other on the Supenaam River, 

 are almost pure uhite with a little ."^laty-grey mottling on the 

 marg-inal upper wing-coverts, bastard-uing, and tips of the 

 l)rimary-quiH3. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



Sest. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



J^ggs. Undescribed from British Guiana. 



Range in British Guiana. Ituribisi River, Supenaam River, 

 Ab;irv River {McConnell collection); Waini River (Beebe). 



]i!.ct}\ilimital Rcuxge. Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Aruba Island, 

 Central America, West India Islands to the Eastern United 

 States. 



Habits. Sciiombur;j:k remarks (Reis. Guian. iii. p. 753) that 

 this species lives in large numbers on the coast-bogs, on the 

 borders of the river-mouths, and on the sand-banks and mud- 

 banks along the coast. 



A\ e quote the following note from Mr. Beebe (Our Search for 

 a Wilderness, p. 154) : — " Little Blue Herons, the pure white 

 immature and the slaty-blue adults being equally numerous. The 



