SNOWY HERON. 



1^1 



on the coast of Cape May. The situation was very sequestered^ 

 bounded on the land side by a fresh water marsh or pond, and 

 sheltered from the Atlantic by ranges of sand hills. The cedars^ 

 tho not high, were so closely crowded together as to render it dif- 

 ficult to penetrate through among them. Some trees contained 

 three, others four nests, built wholly of sticks. Each had in it 

 three eggs of a pale greenish blue color, and measuring an inch 

 and three quarters in length, by an inch and a quarter in thick- 

 ness. Forty or fifty of these eggs were cooked, and found to be 

 well tasted; the white was of a bluish tint, and almost transpa- 

 rent, tho boiled for a considerable time; the yolk very small in 

 quantity. The birds rose in vast numbers, but without clamour, 

 alighting on the tops of the trees around, and watching the result 

 in silent anxiety. Among them were numbers of the Night Heron, 

 and two or three Purple-headed Herons. Great quantities of egg 

 shells lay scattered under the trees, occasioned by the depredations 

 of the Crows, who were continually hovering about the place. On 

 one of the nests I found the dead body of the bird itself, half de- 

 voured by the Hawks, Crows, or Gulls. She had probably perish- 

 ed in defence of her eggs. 



The Snowy Heron is seen at all times during summer among 

 the salt marshes, watching and searching for food; or passing, 

 sometimes in flocks, from one part of the bay to the other. They 

 often make excursions up the rivers and inlets; but return regu- 

 larly in the evening to the red cedars on the beach to roost. I 

 found these birds on the Mississippi, early in June, as far up as 

 Fort Adams, roaming about among the creeks and inundated 

 woods. 



The length of this species is two feet one inch ; extent three 

 feet two inches ; the bill is four inches and a quarter long, and 

 grooved ; the space from the nostril to the eye orange yellow, the 

 rest of the bill black; irides vivid orange; the whole plumage is 

 of a snowy whiteness; the head is largely crested with loose un- 



VOL. VII. H h 



