BLUE HERON. 153 



leans, the Blue Herons, during the transition of their plumage from white to 

 blue, are called "Egrettes folles," or foolish Egrets, on account of their un- 

 usual tameness. My friend Bachman and I, shot, on the 6th and 9th of 

 April, several specimens spotted with blue feathers, and having their crests 

 and trains similarly mixed, although of full length; but in most of the speci- 

 mens obtained, the white was still prevalent. I have shot some in Louisi- 

 ana, in autumn, in the same curious dress. 



This species, though larger than the Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima, 

 is considerably inferior to it in courage; and I was much amused as well as 

 surprised, when at Galveston Bay, on the 24th of April, 1S37, to see one of 

 that species alight near a Purple Heron, attack it, and pursue it as far as I 

 could follow them with my eyes. When the Blue Herons are on the sea- 

 coast they not unfrequently repose on the large mud or sand bars, at some 

 distance from the adjacent marshes; but they generally prefer roosting on 

 trees or bushes, when there are any in their neighbourhood. The Creoles 

 of Louisiana not unfrequently eat the flesh of this species, and although they 

 by no means consider it equal to that of the Night Heron, some of them 

 have assured me that it is not bad food. Like other birds of this family, 

 they become larger with age, and the male is usually somewhat superior in 

 size to the female; but, with this exception, no difference can be perceived 

 in the external appearance of the sexes. 



Blue Heron, Arclea cczrulea, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 117. 



Ardea ccerulea, Bonap. Syn., p. 300. 



Blue Heron, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 58. 



Blue Heron, Ardea ccertdea, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 58. 



Male, 24i, 42. 



Resident in Florida and Texas, where it breeds. In spring migrates as 

 far as Long Island; up the Mississippi to a hundred miles above Natchez. 

 Never seen far inland. 



Adult Male in full plumage. 



Bill much longer than the head, rather slender, very slightly decurved, 

 compressed, tapering to a point. Upper mandible with the dorsal line 

 nearly straight for two-thirds of its length, then slightly decurved, the ridge 

 convex, broad at the base, gradually narrowed to the point; a groove from 

 the base to near the end, the sides convex beneath, the edges thin and sharp, 

 with a slight notch close to the tips. Nostrils basal, linear, longitudinal, 

 with a membrane above and behind. Lower mandible with the angle 

 extremely narrow and elongated, the dorsal line beyond it ascending and 

 almost straight, the sides sloping outwards, and flattened, the edges sharp and 

 slightly inflected, the tip acuminate. 



Vol. VI. 21 



