SKOVVY HERON. 
beyond the tail: the shafts of these are six or seven inches longy 
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 he 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. 
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 turning up at the extremity, falls over the 
rump. 
The young of both these birds are generally very fat, and es- 
teemed 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 colour; and represented as such 
