WILSON’S 
AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
GREEN HERON.-,AEDEA VIRESCENS — Plate LXI. Fig. E 
Arct. TiOol. No. 349, 350 — Cateshy, i, p. 80. — Le Crabier vert, Buff. vii. p. 404. 
— Lath, Syn. iii. p. 68. — Peale' s Museum, No. 3797. 
AEDEA VIRESCENS— LiNJiMVS.* 
Ardea virescens, Bonap. Synop. p. 307.— TYa^Z. Syst. av. No. 36. 
This common and familiar species owes little to tlie liberality 
of public opinion, whose prejudices have stigmatized it with a 
* There are two or three beautiful little herons confounded under this spe- 
cies, in the same manner from their near alliance, as the little bittern of Eu- 
rope has been with A. exilis and pusilla. They are all, however, to be distin- 
guished when compared together, or when attention is given to the markings. 
The nearest ally to A. virescens is the East Indian A. scapularis ; the upper 
parts of both are nearly similar, but the neck and under parts differ in being 
of a deep vinous chestnut in the one, and rich ash grey in the other. In Wilson’s 
Plate, the chestnut colour is not represented of a deep enough tint, and too 
much white is shown on the fore part. 
In a specimen which I have lately received from South Carolina, the colour of 
the neck is very deep and rich, almost approaching to that of port wine ; the 
lengthened feathers of the back are remarkably long, and show well the white 
shafts which ought to be so conspicuous in both species. The confusion in the 
greater part of the synonymes must have arisen by the specimens from both 
countries being indiscriminately compared and described. — Ed. 
VOL. III. A 
