SNOWY HERON. 
81 
and sheltered from the Atlantic by ranges of sand-hills. The ce- 
dars, though not high, were so closely crowded together, as to 
render it difficult to penetrate through among them. Some trees 
contained three, others four, nests, built wholly of sticks. Each 
had in it three eggs of a pale greenish blue colour, and measur- 
ing an inch and three quarters in length, by an inch and a quar- 
ter in thickness. Forty or fifty of these eggs were cooked, and 
found to be well tasted; the white was of a bluish tint, and al- 
most transparent, though boiled for a considerable time; the 
yelk very small in quantity. The birds rose in vast numbers, 
but without clamour, 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 tbe 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 evening, to the red cedars on the beech, to 
roost. I found these birds on the Mississippi, early in June, as 
far up as fort Adams, roaming about among tbe 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 plu- 
mage 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, proceed- 
ing from the shoulders, covering the whole back, and extending 
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