GREA T HERON. 45 r 



with a profusion of long, narrow, white, tapering feathers, 

 originating on the shoulders or upper part of the back, and 

 falling gracefully over the wings ; primaries, very dark slate, 

 nearly black ; naked thighs, brownish yellow ; legs, brownish 

 black, tinctured with yellow, and netted with seams of whitish ; 

 in some, the legs are nearly black. Little difference could be 

 perceived between the plumage of the males and females ; 

 the latter were rather less, and the long pointed plumes of 

 the back were not quite so abundant. 



The young birds of the first year have the whole upper 

 part of the head of a dark slate ; want the long plumes of 

 the breast and back ; and have the body, neck, and lesser 

 coverts of the wings considerably tinged with ferruginous. 



On dissection, the gullet was found of great width from 

 the mouth to the stomach, which has not the two strong 

 muscular coats that form the gizzard of some birds ; it was 

 more loose, of considerable and uniform thickness throughout, 

 and capable of containing nearly a pint. It was entirely 

 filled with fish, among which were some small eels, all placed 

 head downwards ; the intestines measured nine feet in length, 

 were scarcely as thick as a goose-quill, and incapable of 

 being distended ; so that the vulgar story of the heron swal- 

 lowing eels, which, passing suddenly through him, are repeat- 

 edly swallowed, is absurd and impossible. On the external 

 coat of the stomach of one of these birds, opened soon after 

 being shot, something like a blood-vessel lay in several 

 meandering folds, enveloped in a membrane, and closely 

 adhering to the surface. On carefully opening this membrane, 

 it was found to contain a large, round, living worm, eight 

 inches in length ; another, of like length, was found coiled, 

 in the same manner, on another part of the external coat. 

 It may also be worthy of notice, that the intestines of the 

 young birds of the first season, killed in the month of October, 

 when they were nearly as large as the others, measured only 

 six feet four or five inches ; those of the full-grown ones, from 

 eight to nine feet in length. 



