COMMON HERON. 



54S 



deep black : the fore-part of the neck is adorned 

 with large longitudinal spots of black and grey : 

 the back and wings are blue-grey : the beak is 

 deep yellow : the irides yellow : a naked skin 

 about the eyes is of a bluish purple : the legs are 

 brown, but the naked space above the knee is 

 bright red. In addition to the above, the hind 

 head is ornamented with several elongated narrow 

 black feathers, the two middle of which are up- 

 wards of eight inches in length ; the whole forms 

 an elegant crest, which is dependent on the hind 

 part of the neck: the feathers of the scapulars 

 are also elongated, and fall over tjie back in fine 

 disunited plumes. 



The young do not possess the crest, or the 

 elongated scapulary feathers : they have the fore- 

 head and top of the head grey : the throat white : 

 the neck bright grey, with several deeper spots : 

 the back and the wings are blue-grey, varied with 

 brown and whitish : the breast is longitudinally 

 spotted : the upper mandible of the beak is dusky 

 brown, spotted with yellow ; the under yellow : 

 irides the same : space round the eyes greenish 

 yellow : the legs of a grey-black, with the naked 

 space above the knee yellowish. 



This species has been observed nearly of a pure 

 white, but this is of extremely rare occurrence : 

 this variety may be easily distinguished from the 

 young Ardea egretta, by the naked space above 

 the knee, which is very large in the latter. 



The common Heron occurs throughout nearly 

 the whole globe, retiring from the frigid regionf* 



