YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON. 89 



Carolina, is characterized by having an acute bifid spatha, an erect funnel- 

 shaped corolla of a pale rose-colour or pure white, with a short tube at the 

 base, the segments nearly equal, as are the declinate stamens. It flowers in 

 June and July, and attains a height of from eight inches to a foot. 



YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON. 



H-Ardea violacea, Linn. 

 PLATE CCCLXIV.— Adult and Young. 



The Yellow-crowned Heron, which is one of the handsomest species of 

 its tribe, is called "Cap-cap" by the Creoles of Lower Louisiana, in which 

 country it is watched and shot with great eagerness, on account of the 

 excellence of its flesh. It arrives about New Orleans toward the end of 

 March, and departs in the middle of October. On arriving, they throw 

 themselves among the thickets along the bayous, where they breed. Like 

 the Night Heron, this species may be enticed near by imitating its cries, 

 when it approaches, cutting many curious zigzags in the air, and alights 

 close by. It is a curious circumstance that when passing over several 

 gunners placed on the watch for them, they dive toward the ground if shot 

 at and missed, and this they do several times in succession, according to the 

 number of shots. It is in the evening and at dawn that they are chiefly 

 obtained. They are said not to travel in boisterous weather, or when there 

 is thunder; and I have heard the same stated with regard to the Night 

 Heron. 



In some parts of the Southern States, this species is quite abundant, while 

 in the intermediate tracts it is seldom or never met with. Thus, in the 

 Floridas, I found great numbers on a bayou near Halifax river, but 

 afterwards saw none until I reached one of the keys, more than two hundred 

 miles distant, and farther south, where it was breeding in society. The first 

 of these flocks I saw in winter, the other on the 22nd of May. Again, 

 while proceeding toward the Texas, we saw a few on an island in Bay 

 Blanche, but met with none afterwards until we reached Galveston Island, 

 where they were plentiful. They seldom advance eastward far beyond 



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