256 KEY TO THE WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 
Supcenus, FLORIDA Barrp. 
ARDEA CCERULEA Zinn. 
Little Blue Heron. 
(Adult.) 
Adult: Head and neck purplish red or maroon, rest of plumage grayish blue; biil black at 
the end ; basal portion and loral space blue; legs and feet black. 
Immature birds are pure white, except a faint wash of grayish blue near the tip of the pri- 
maries; legs olive or yellowish and the basal half of the bill greenish. 
This species is sometimes confounded with the Snowy Egret, but may easily be distinguished 
from that species by the slight wash of blue on the ends of the primaries and by the color of 
the legs and bill. 
Length about 23: Wing, 11; Tarsus, 3.60. 
(Immature.) 
