THE GREAT BLUE HERON. 131 



wings 72; bill 5\, gape 7 T %; tarsus 6j, middle toe and claw 5, hind toe and 

 claw 2k, naked part of tibia 4; wings from flexure 20; tail 7. 



The Female, when in full plumage, is precisely similar to the male. 



On Prince Edward's Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, there is a fine 

 breeding-place of the Great Blue Heron, which is probably the most northern 

 on the Atlantic coast of North America. The birds there are more shy 

 than they usually are at the period of breeding, and in the most cowardly 

 manner abandon their young to the mercy of every intruder. A friend of 

 mine who visited this place for the purpose of procuring adult birds in their 

 best plumage, to add to his already extensive collection, found it extremely 

 difficult to obtain his object, until he at length thought of covering himself 

 with the hide of an ox, under the disguise of which he readily got within 

 shot of the birds, which were completely deceived by the stratagem. 



Adult Male. The interior of the mouth is similar to that of the last 

 species, there being three longitudinal ridges on the upper mandible; its 

 width is !■% inches, but the lower mandible can be dilated to 2\ inches. The 

 tongue is 3| inches long, trigonal, and in all respects similar to that of JLrdea 

 occidentalis. The oesophagus is 24 inches in length, opposite the larynx its 

 width is 2\ inches, it then gradually contracts to the distance of 7 inches, 

 becomes 1 inch 10 twelfths in width, and so continues until it enters the 

 thorax, when it enlarges to 2 inches and so continues, but at the proventri- 

 culus is 2^ inches in breadth. The stomach is roundish, a little compressed, 

 2\ inches in diameter; its muscular coat thin, and composed of a single series 

 of fasciculi, its inner coat soft and smooth, but with numerous irregular 

 ridges. There is a roundish pyloric lobe, 9 twelfths in diameter. The pro- 

 ventricular glands form a belt 1 inch 4 twelfths in width; at its upper part 

 are 10 longitudinal irregular series of very large mucous crypts; the right 

 lobe of the liver is 3 inches in length, the left 2 inches; there is a gall- 

 bladder of a curved form, \\ inches in length, and 6 twelfths in its greatest 

 breadth. The intestine is 7 feet 1\ inches in length; its greatest width, in 

 the duodenum, is 3j twelfths, at the distance of 3 feet, it is 2\ twelfths; a 

 foot and a half farther on it is scarcely 2\ twelfths; and half a foot from 

 the rectum it is 2 twelfths; it then slightly enlarges. The rectum, including 

 the cloaca, is 5 inches 9 twelfths in length; there is a single ccecum, 5 twelfths 

 long, and 2\ twelfths in width, the average width of the rectum is \ inch, 

 and it expands into a globular cloaca 2 inches 2 twelfths in diameter. The 

 duodenum curves at the distance of 5 inches, then passes to the right lobe of 

 the liver, bends backward, and is convoluted, forming 22 turns, terminating 

 in the rectum above the stomach. 



The trachea is 21 inches in length, from A\ twelfths to 3 twelfths in 



