304 
LOUISIANA HERON. 
are also tipped with the same ; wing quills dark slate ; breast white, 
tinged with ochre, under which lie a number of blackish feathers ; belly 
and vent white ; sides pale ochre ; legs greenish on the shins, hind part 
and feet yellow ; thighs feathered to within a quarter of an inch of the 
knees, middle claw pectinated ; toes tinged with pale green ; feet large, 
the span of the foot measuring two inches and three quarters. Male 
and female nearly alike in color. The young birds are brown on the 
crown and back. The stomach was filled with small fish ; and the 
intestines, which were extremely slender, measured in length about four 
feet. 
The Least Bittern is also found in Jamaica and several of the West 
India Islands. 
Species VII. ARDEA LUDOVICIANA. 
LOUISIANA HERON. 
[Plate LXIV. Fig. 1.] 
Tins is a rare and delicately formed species ; occasionally found, on 
the swampy river shores of South Carolina, but more frequently along 
the borders of the Mississippi, particularly below New Orleans. In 
each of these places it is migratory ; and in the latter, as I have been 
informed, builds its nest on trees, amidst the inundated woods. Its 
manners correspond very much with those of the Blue Heron. It is 
quick in all its motions, darting about after its prey with surprising 
agility. Small fish, frogs, lizards, tadpoles, and various aquatic insects, 
constitute its principal food. 
There is a bird described by Latham in his General Synopsis, vol. iii., 
p. 88, called the Demi Egret * which from the account there given, 
seems to approach near to the present species. It is said to inhabit 
Cayenne. 
Length of the Louisiana Heron from the point of the bill to the 
extremity of the tail twenty-three inches ; the long hair-like plumage 
of the rump and lower part of the back extends several inches farther ; 
the bill is remarkably long, measuring full five inches, of a yellowish 
green at the base, black towards the point, and very sharp ; irides 
yellow ; chin and throat white, dotted with ferruginous and some blue ; 
the rest of the neck is of a light vinous purple, intermixed on the lower 
part next the breast with dark slate-colored plumage ; the whole feathers 
* See also Buffon, vol. vii., p. 378. 
