SNOWY HERON. 
87 
the central parts of New England. It arrives in the United 
States from the South early in April, and passing inland, at 
length proceeds up the valley of the Mississippi, and even 
ascends the borders of the y\rkansas, thus pursuing an extensive 
inland route to the final destination in the wilds of Canada. 
It departs from the Middle States, towards its hibernal desti- 
nation in the South, in the course of the month of October. 
Like most of the summer visitors of this family, the Snowy 
Heron confines its residence to the salt-marshes, where its bril- 
liant whiteness renders it a conspicuous object at a distance. Its 
food, as usual, consists of small crabs, worms, snails, frogs, and 
lizards, to which fare it also adds at times the seeds of the pond- 
lilies and other aquatic plants. About the middle of May nest- 
building commences ; and Wilson describes one of these heron- 
ries situated in a sequestered clump of red cedars, at Summer’s 
Beach, on the coast of Cape May. The spot chosen, with the 
usual sagacity of the tribe, was sejrarated on the land side by 
a fresh-water pond, and sheltered from the view of the Atlantic 
by ranges of sand-hills. The cedars, though low, were so 
densely crowded together as scarcely to permit a passage 
through them. Some of the trees contained three or four nests 
in each, constructed wholly of sticks. 'I’he eggs, about three 
in number, were of a pale greenish-blue color, and measured 
one inch and three quarters in length. On approaching the 
premises, the birds silently rose in great numbers ; and alighting 
on the tops of the neighboring trees, they ajtpeared to watch 
the result of the intruding visit in silent anxiety. Assembled 
With them were numbers of the Night Herons, and two or three 
of the purple-headed species. Great quantities of egg-shells 
Hy scattered under the trees, occasioned by the depredations 
of the Crows who were hovering in the vicinity. Wherever the 
Snowy Herons happen to wander through the marshes, or 
ufong the borders of the rivers and inlets, they regularly return 
in the evening to their favorite roost in the cedars of the 
beach. 
The young, of both this and the preceding species, are 
generally fat, and esteemed by some as palatable food. 
