310 
SNOWY HERON. 
and found to be well tasted ; the white was of a bluish tint, and almost 
transparent, though boiled for a considerable time ; the yolk very small 
in quantity. The birds rose in vast numbers, but without clamor, 
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 devoured by the Hawks, 
Crows, or Gulls. She had probably perished 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 regularly, in the even- 
ing, 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, rooming 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 unwebbed feathers, nearly four 
inches in length ; another tuft of the same covers the breast ; but the 
most distinguished ornament of this bird is a bunch of long silky 
plumes, proceeding from the shoulders, covering the whole back, and 
extending beyond the tail : the shafts of these are six or seven inches 
long, extremely elastic, tapering to the extremities, and thinly set with 
long slender bending threads or fibres, easily agitated by the slightest 
motion of the air — these shafts curl upwards at the ends. When the 
bird is irritated, and erects those airy plumes, they have a very elegant 
appearance ; the legs, and naked part of the thighs, are black ; the feet 
bright yellow ; claws black, the middle one pectinated. 
The female can scarcely be distinguished by her plumage, having not 
only the crest, but all the ornaments of the male, though not quite so 
long and flowing. 
The young birds of the first season are entirely destitute of the long 
plumes of the breast and back ; but, as all those that were examined in 
spring were found crested and ornamented as above, they doubtless 
receive their full dress on the first moulting. Those shot in October 
measured twenty-two inches in length, by thirty-four in extent ; the 
crest was beginning to form ; the legs yellowish green, daubed with 
black ; the feet greenish yellow ; the lower mandible white at the base ; 
the wings, when shut, nearly of a length with the tail, which is even at 
the end. 
