YELLOW -CROWNED NIGHT HERON. 
89 
Carolina, is characterized by having an acute bifid spatha, an erect funnel- 
shaped corolla of a pale rose-colour or pure white, with a short tube at the 
base, the segments nearly equal, as are the declinate stamens. It flowers 
in June and July, and attains a height of from eight inches to a foot. 
YELLOW-CROWN ED NIGHT HERON. 
Ardea yiolacea, Linn . 
PLATE CCCLXIV. — Adult and Young. 
The Yellow-crowned Heron, which is one of the handsomest species of 
its tribe, is called “ Cap-cap ” by the Creoles of Lower Louisiana, in which 
country it is watched and shot with great eagerness, on account of the 
excellence of its flesh. It arrives about New Orleans toward the end of 
March; and departs in the middle of October. On arriving, they throw 
themselves among the thickets along the bayous, where they breed. Like 
the Night Heron, this species may be enticed near by imitating its cries, 
when it approaches, cutting many curious zigzags in the air, and alights 
close by. It is a curious circumstance that when passing over several 
gunners placed on the watch for them, they dive toward the ground if shot 
at and missed, and this they do several times in succession, according to the 
number of shots. It is in the evening and at dawn that they are chiefly 
obtained. They are said not to travel in boisterous weather, or when there 
is thunder ; and I have heard the same stated with regard to the Night 
Heron. 
In some parts of the Southern States, this species is quite abundant, while 
in the intermediate tracts it is seldom or never met with. Thus, in 
the Floridas, I found great numbers on a bayou near Halifax river, but 
afterwards saw none until I reached one of the keys, more than two hundred 
miles distant, and farther south, where it was breeding in society. The first 
of these flocks I saw in winter, the other on the 22nd of May. Again, 
while proceeding toward the Texas, we saw a few on an island in Bay 
Blanche, but met with none afterwards until we reached Galveston Island, 
where they were plentiful. They seldom advance eastward far beyond 
Vol. YI. 13 
