528 GREAT WHITE HERON. 
from having first met with it in the southern parts of Georgia about 
that time. The high inland parts of the country it rarely or never 
visits ; its favorite haunts- are vast, inundated swamps, rice-fields, the 
low, marshy shores of rivers, and such like places, where, from its size 
and color, it is very conspicuous, even at a great distance. 
The appearance of this bird during the first season, when it is en- 
tirely destitute of the long, flowing plumes of the back, is so different 
from the same bird in its perfect plumage, which it obtains in the third 
year, that naturalists and others very generally consider them as two 
distinct species. The opportunities which I have fortunately had of 
observing them with the train, in various stages of its progress, from 
its first appearance to its full growth, satisfy me that the Great White 
Heron with, and that without the long plumes, are one and the same 
species in different periods of age. In the museum of my friend, Mr. 
Peale, there is a specimen of this bird, in which the train is wanting ; 
but, on a closer examination, its rudiments are plainly to be perceived. 
extending several inches beyond the common plumage. : 
The Great White Heron breeds in several of the extensive cedar 
swamps in the lower parts of New Jersey. Their nests are built on 
the trees, in societies ; the structure and materials exactly similar to 
those of the Snowy Heron, but larger. The eggs are usually four, of 
a pale-blue color. In the months of July and August, the young 
make their first appearance in the meadows and marshes, in parties of 
twenty or thirty together. The large ditches with which the extensive 
meadows below Philadelphia are intersected, are regularly, about that 
season, visited by flocks of those birds; these are frequently shot, but 
the old ones are too sagacious to be easily approached. Their food 
consists of frogs, lizards, small fish, insects, seeds of the splatterdock, 
(a species of nymphe,) and small water-snakes. They will also de- 
vour mice and moles, the remains of such having been at different. 
times found in their stomachs. ; 
The long plumes of these birds have at various periods been in 
great request on the continent of Europe, particularly in France and 
Italy, for the purpose of ornamenting the female headdress. When 
dyed of various colors, and tastefully fashioned, they form a light and. 
elegant duster and musquito brush. The Indians pxize them for orna- 
menting their hair, or top-knot; and I have occasionally observed 
these people wandering through the market-place of New Orleans, 
with bunches of those feathers for sale. 
The Great White Heron measures five feet from the extremities of 
the wings, and three feet six inches from the tip of the bill to the end 
-of the tail; the train extends seven or eight inches farther. This 
train is composed of a great number of long, thick, tapering shafts, 
rising from the lower part of the shoulders, and thinly furnished on- 
each side with fine, flowing, hair-like threads, of several inches in 
length, covering the lower part of the back, and falling gracefully 
over the tail, which it entirely conceals. The whole plumage is of 
a snowy whiteness, except the train, which is slightly tinged with 
yellow. The bill is nearly six inches in length, of a rich orange 
yellow, tipped with black ; irides, a paler orange ; pupil, small, giving 
the bird a sharp and piercing aspect; the legs are long, stout, and of a 
black color, as is the bare space of four inches above the knee; the 
