156 LOUISIANA HERON. 



proventriculus is 1 inch long, its glandules cylindrical, and extremely 

 slender. The stomach seems as if it merely formed a basal sac to the 

 oesophagus, its muscles being extremely thin, its tendons circular and half an 

 inch in diameter; cuticular lining soft. The intestine is long and very nar- 

 row, 5 feet 10 inches in length, 2 lines in diameter at the upper part, lj near 

 the rectum, which is 2f- inches long, with a diameter of 4^ lines, and termi- 

 nates in a nipple-like ccecum, projecting 3 lines beyond the entrance of the 

 small intestine, but having no appearance of the two lateral appendages 

 usually called coeca. In this respect, the Blue Heron agrees with others of 

 the same family. The cloaca is about an inch in length and breadth. 



The trachea, when extended, is Sf- inches long. The rings 170 in number, 

 are osseous and circular, so that the organ preserves its cylindrical form 

 under all circumstances. They are, like those of all Herons, of equal 

 breadth on both sides, not broad on one side and narrow on the other, as has 

 been represented. The contractor muscles are very slender, as are the 

 sterno-tracheal; the former send down a slip on each side to the first bron- 

 chial ring. The diameter of the trachea is 2 lines at the upper part, lj at 

 the lower. The bronchi are short, wide, conical, of about 13 half rings. 



The right lobe of the liver is 2i inches long, the left lobe 1|; the heart li 

 in length, 8 lines broad, of an oblong conical form. The stomach contained 

 remains of insects and crustaceous animals, together with a few seeds. 



LOUISIANA HERON. 



"Ardea Lttdoviciana, Wils. 



PLATE CCCLXXIII.— Male. 



Delicate in form, beautiful in plumage, and graceful in its movements, I 

 never see this interesting Heron, without calling it the Lady of the Waters. 

 Watch its motions, as it leisurely walks over the pure sand beaches of the 

 coast of Florida, arrayed in the full beauty of its spring plumage. Its pen- 

 dent crest exhibits its glossy tints, its train falls gracefully over a well 

 defined tail, and the tempered hues of its back and wings contrast with those 

 of its lower parts. Its measured steps are so light that they leave no 



