BIRDS ^AEDEIDAE — FLORIDA CAERULEA. 



671 



According to Mr. Audubon, fhe bill in life is yellow ; the upper mandible greenish at the base ; 

 the loral space yellowish green ; the orbital light blue. Iris bright yellow. Tibia and hind 

 part of tarsus yellow ; fore part of tibia and toes olivaceous, the sides of the latter greenish 

 yellow ; claws light brown. The young are smaller, the feathers of occiput and lower part of 

 throat less elongated. 



List of specimens. 



FLORIDA, Baird. 



Ch. — Bill slender, acute ; upper outline curving gently from near the base -, lower straight, or even concave. Tarsi short ; 

 toes long ; lateral more than half the tarsus ; outer toe longest . A full occipital crest ; the feathers composing it, and those of 

 the neck generally, with the webs decomposed, only lanceolate on the lower part of the throat. No dorsal plumes, but the 

 scapulars elongated, lanceolate, and reaching beyond the tail. Back of neck bare inferiorly . Neck rather short. Color blue. 



This genus differs from Herodias in the bill, which is convex above, straight below, and very 

 acute. The legs are shorter, the toes and claws longer and slenderer. The peculiar lanceolate 

 character of the feathers of the neck is wanting, as also the dorsal plumes. 



FLOEIDA CAEEULEA, Baird. 



Blue Heron. 



jjjtfeo caeruUa, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 239.— Gm. I, 1788, 631.— Lath. Ind. II, 1790, 689.— Wilson, Am. Orn. 

 VII, 1813, 117 ; pi. Ixii.— Ord's ed. 122.— Bon. Obs. Wils. 1825, 187.— Ann. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 

 58 ; pl. 307— Ib. Syn. 266.— Is. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 148 ; pl. 372. 



^rd/ea (Batavms) caerulea, Bon. Syn. 1828, 300.— Nutt. Man. II, 1834, 58. 



Egretta caerulea, Bon. List, 1838. — Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 338. 



Herodias caerulea, Gray, Genera. — Ib. Eon. Conap. II, 1855, 123.— Gcndl. Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 343. 



? Jlriea eyanopus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 644. 



.ardea caerulescens, .'Latham, Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 689.— Light. Verz. 1823, 77.— Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, ^rdea, 

 No. 15. 



" ^rdea plumbea. Brown, Nat. Hist. Jam." 



" Jlrdea chalyhea, Stephens." 



? Egretta nivea, Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 334. Toung .' 



•gp. -Ch. — Slate blue ; head and neck bluish purple all round ; bill blue ; legs black. Young white, sometimes spotted with 

 blue. Length, 22 inches ; wing, 11 ; tarsus, 3.80 ; bill above, 3. 

 Hab South Atlantic and Gulf coast to Mexico. 



Bill slender, compressed. Oulmen rather concave in the basal half; the terminal gently 

 convex. Gronys nearly straight, in marked contrast with the culmen. Toes slender and 

 lengthened ; middle nearly as long as the tarsus ; inner or shortest lateral considerably more 

 than half the tarsus ; tibia bare for nearly half. Top of the head moderately crested, becoming 

 longer on the occiput and nape ; the feathers composing it with the fibrillae free and blended, 

 as is the case in the feathers of the neck generally and the back. Scapulars greatly elongated, 



