COLOUR IN BIRDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 205 



two years old. They were very tame, feeding from the hand, and 

 evidencing no vicious disposition; preferring, as food, the sweet potatoe 

 (Convokmlus batata) and Indian corn (Zea mays). They had not quite 

 completed their moult. They appeared a shade lighter than the Ca- 

 nada Crane, and considerably larger. The feathers were white nearly 

 to their extremities, where the ash colour prevailed ; the brown edges 

 on the feathers continued to become narrower. At each successive 

 visit the change was rendered more visible. In a few weeks some of 

 the feathers became pure white, while others were slightly tinged with 

 a cinereous colour. The change was not perfect, though nearly so, 

 when the birds were removed from the city, and all who saw them 

 unhesitatingly pronounced them Whooping Cranes. 



Ardea cserulea, Blue Heron. Our writers on American ornithology 

 were not, until recently, aw^are that the young of this species was white. 

 In this state of plumage it so much resembles the Snowy Heron (Ar- 

 dea candidissima) that it can scarcely be distinguished from that species, 

 except by its black legs and toes. I had many opportunities of wit- 

 nessing the changes of plumage to which this bird is subject, and dis- 

 covered that, both in captivity and in a state of nature, the time and 

 process do not materially vary. The young birds continue pure white 

 till late in autumn, when they moult. No perceptible change in co- 

 lour takes place, except in a very few instances ; a few feathers have a 

 slight tinge of blue near their inner webs. All the old birds retire 

 south of Carolina in winter; a few of the young, in white plumage, 

 remain. When this species return from their winter retreat in Flo- 

 rida and Mexico, they possess their beautiful trains, some white, others 

 white and blue. Even in spring, a few new feathers may be seen 

 here and there pushing forwards, and are easily known by their having 

 a tinge of blue. On some the breasts are spotted ; some of the feathers 

 having become blue, others still remaining white: every where, how- 

 ever, a tendency to the change which is approaching, is visible in each 

 new feather, its inner vaine being more or less marked with blue. A 

 few still continue white, probably the late brood of the former year. 

 It is amusing to witness the breeding place of these birds. A thou- 

 sand nests may sometimes be seen on some small islands among the 

 reserve dams of the rice fields of Carolina. Here is seen an indiscri- 



