106 



GREAT WHITE HERON. 

 ABDEA EGMETTA. 

 [Plate LXI.— Fig. 4.] 



Peale's Museum^ JVo. 3754 ; Young, 3755. 



TftlS tall and elegant bird, tho often seen, during the sum- 

 mer, in our low marshes and inundated meadows ; yet on account 

 of its extreme vigilance and watchful timidity, is very difficult to 

 be procured. Its principal residence is in the regions of the south, 

 being found from Guiana, and probably beyond the line, to New 

 York. It enters the territories of the United States late in Fe-^ 

 bruary ; this I conjecture from having first met with it in the 

 southern parts of Georgia about that time. The high inland parts 

 of the country it rarely or never visits j its favourite haunts are 

 vast inundated swampSj rice fields, the low marshy shores of rivers, 

 and such like places ; where, from its size and color, it is very con- 

 spicuous even at a great distance. 



The appearance of this bird^ during the first season, when it 

 is entirely destitute of the long flowing plumes of the back, is so 

 different from the same bird in its perfect plumage, which it ob^ 

 tains in the third year, that naturalists and others very generally 

 consider them as two distinct species. The opportunities which I 

 have fortunately had, of observing them with the train in various 

 stages of its progress^ from its first appearance to its full growth, 

 satisfies me that the Great White Heron with, and that without the 

 long plumes, are one and the same species, in different periods of 

 age. In the museum of my friend Mr. Peale, there is a specimen 

 of this bird, in which the train is wanting; but on a closer exami- 



