526 NIGHT HERON, OR QUA-BIRD. 
the head. These facts I ave exhibited, by dissection on several sub- 
jects, to different literary gentlemen of my acquaintance, particularly 
to my venerable friend, Mr. William Bartram, to whom | have also 
often shown the young, (Fig. 246.) One of these last, which was kept 
for some time in the botanic garden of that gentleman, by its voice 
instantly betrayed its origin, to the satisfaction of all who examined 
it. These young certainly receive their full, colored plurnage before 
the succeeding spring, as, on their first arrival, no birds are to be seen 
in the dress of Fig. 246; but, soon after they have bred, these become 
more numerous than the others. Early in October, they migrate to 
the south. According to Buffon, these birds also inhabit Cayenne, and 
are found widely dispersed over Europe, Asia, and America. The 
European species, however, is certainly much smaller than the Ameri- 
can, though in other respects corresponding exactly to it. Among a 
great number which I examined with attention, the following descrip- 
tion was carefully taken from a common-sized, full-grown male : — 
Length of the Night Heron, two feet four inches; extent, four feet; 
bill, black, four inches and a quarter long from the corners of the 
mouth to the tip; lores, or space between the eye and bill, a bare, 
bluish white skin; eyelids, also large and bare, of a deep purple blue; 
eye, three quarters of an inch in diameter ; the iris of a brilliant blood 
red; pupil, black; crested crown, and hind head deep, dark blue, 
glossed with green; front, and line over the eye, white; from the hind 
head proceed three very narrow, white, tapering feathers, between 
eight and nine inches in length; the vanes of these are concave be- 
low, the upper one enclosing the next, and that again the lower; though 
separated by the hand, if the plumage be again shook several times, 
these long, flowing plumes gradually enclose each other, appearing as 
one ; these the bird has the habit of erecting when angry or alarmed ; 
the cheeks, neck, and whole lower parts are white, tinctured with yel- 
lowish cream, and under the wings with very pale ash; back and 
scapulars, of the same deep, dark blue, glossed with green, as that of 
the crown; rump and tail-coverts, as well as the whole wings and tail, 
very pale ash; legs and feet, a pale yellow cream color; inside of the 
middle claw, serrated. 
The femai» differed in nothing, as to plumage, from the male, but in 
the wings being of rather a deeper ash, having not only the dark, deep 
green blue crown and back, but also the long, pendent, white plumes 
from the hind head. Each ofthe females contained a large cluster of 
eggs, of various sizes. 
The young (Fig. 246) was shot soon after it had left the nest, and 
differed very little from those which had been taken from the trees, 
except in being somewhat larger. This measured twenty-one inches in 
length, and three feet in extent; the general color above, a very deep 
brown, streaked with reddish white; the spots of white on the back 
and wings being triangular from the centre of the feather to the tip; 
quills, deep dusky, marked on the tips with a spot of white; eye, vivid 
orange; belly, white, streaked with dusky, the feathers being pale 
dusky, streaked down their centres with white; legs and fcet, light 
green ; inside of the middle claw, slightly pectinated ; body and wings, 
exceedingly thin and limber; the down still stuck, in slight tufts, to 
the tips of some of the feathers. 
