SNOWY HERON. 
311 
The Little Egret, or European species, is said by Latham and Turton 
to be nearly a foot in length ; Bewick observes, that it rarely exceeds 
a foot and a half ; has a much shorter crest, with two long feathers ; 
the feet are black ; and the long plumage of the back, instead of turn- 
ing up at the extremity, falls over the rump. 
The young of both these birds are generally very fat, and esteemed 
by some people as excellent eating. 
Note. — Catesby represents the bill of this bird as red, and this error 
has been perpetuated by all succeeding ornithologists. The fact is, 
that the bills of young Herons are apt to assume a reddish tint after 
death, and this was evidently mistaken by Catesby for a permanent 
living color ; and represented as such by an exaggeration common to 
almost all colorers of plates of Natural History. We have no hesita- 
tion in asserting that a Heron such as that figured by the author in 
question does not exist in the United States. That his Heron is identi- 
cal with ours there can be no doubt, and we are equally satisfied that 
his specimen was a bird of the first year. So common did we find this 
species along the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia and East Florida, 
during the winter, that they were to be seen every hour of the day, and 
were almost as tame as domestic fowls. A specimen shot in East 
Florida was twenty-one inches in length ; the upper mandible, and tip 
of the lower, were black, base of the latter flesh colored, the remainder 
of bill yellow.— G. Ord. 
