BIRDS ARDEIDAE — FLORIDA CAERULE A. 
67L 
According to Mr. Audubon, the bill in life is yellow; the upper mandible greenish at the base; 
the loral space yellowish green ; the orbital light blue. Iris bright yellow. Tibia and hind 
part of tarsus yellow ; fore part of tibia and toes olivaceous, the sides of the latter greenish 
yellow ; claws light brown. The young are smaller, the feathers of occiput and lower part of 
throat less elongated. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. No 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When collected. 
Whence ohtained. 
Collected by — 
6840 
1985 
s 
Indian Key, Florida 
March IS, 
Florida 
S. F. Baird 
FLORIDA, Baird. 
Ch. — Bill slender, acute ; upper outline curving gently from near the base ; lower straight, or even concave. Tarsi short ; 
toes long ; lateral more than half the tarsus ; outer toe longest. A full occipital crest ; the feathers composing it, and those of 
the neck generally, with the webs decomposed, only lanceolate on the lower part of the throat. No dorsal plumes, but the 
scapulars elongated, lanceolate, and reaching beyond the tail. Back of neck bare inferiorly. Neck rather short. Color blue. 
This genus differs from Herodias in the bill, which is convex above, straight below, and very 
acute. The legs are shorter, the toes and claws longer and slenderer. The peculiar lanceolate 
character of the feathers of the neck is wanting, as also the dorsal plumes. 
FLORIDA CAERULE A, Baird. 
Blue Heron. 
Jlrdea caerulea, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 17G6, 239.— Gm. I, 1788, 631.— Lath. Ind. II, 1790, 689.— Wilson, Am. Orn. 
VII, 1813, 117; pi. lxii. — Ord's ed. 122.— Bon. Obs. Wils. 1825, 187.— Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 
58 ; pi. 307.— Ib. Syn. 2G6.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 148 ; pi. 372. 
Jlrdea (Botaurus) caerulea, Bon. Syn. 1828, 300.— Nutt. Man. II, 1834, 58. 
Egretta caerulea, Bon. List, 1838.— Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 338. 
Herodias caerulea, Gray, Genera. — Ib. Bon. Consp. II, 1855, 123. — Gundl. Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 343. 
? Jlrdea cyanopus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 644. 
Jlrdea caerulescens, ? Latham, Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 689.— Licht. Verz. 1823, 77.— Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, Jlrdea, 
No. 15. 
" Jlrdea plumbea, Brown, Nat. Hist. Jam." 
"Jlrdea chalybea, Stephens." 
? Egretta nioea, Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 334. Young? 
Sp. Ch. — Slate blue ; head and neck bluish purple all round ; bill blue ; legs black. Young white, sometimes spotted with 
blue. Length, 22 inches ; wing, 11 ; tarsus, 3.80 ; bill above, 3. 
Hah. — South Atlantic and Gulf coast to Mexico. 
Bill slender, compressed. Culmen rather concave in the basal half ; the terminal gently 
convex. G-onys nearly straight, in marked contrast with the culmen. Toes slender and 
lengthened ; middle nearly as long as the tarsus ; inner or shortest lateral considerably more 
than half the tarsus ; tibia bare for nearly half. Top of the head moderately crested, becoming 
longer on the occiput and nape ; the feathers composing it with the fibrillae free and blended, 
as is the case in the feathers of the neck generally and the back. Scapulars greatly elongated, 
