AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
DEMI-EGRET HERON.* 
JlRDEJl LEUCOGJISTER. 
[Plate LXIV.— Fig. 1.] 
Lath. S^n. Ill, /j. 88, A'b. 57. — Ind. Om. p, 694, No, 62. — Stephens, Gen. Zool. XI, /j. 
547. — La Deyni-aigrettey Buff. VII, p. 378. PL Enl. 350. — Gmel. Sijst. I, p. 628, A'b. 
32, — Peale’s Museunij No. 3750. 
THIS is a rare and delicately formed species ; occasionally 
found on the swampy river shores of South Carolina, but more fre- 
quently along the borders of the Mississippi, particularly below 
New Orleans. In each of these places it is migratory; and in the 
latter, as I have been informed, builds its nest on trees, amidst the 
inundated woods. Its manners correspond very much with those 
of the Blue Heron. It is quick in all its motions, darting about 
after its prey with surprising agility. Small fish, fi'ogs, lizards, 
tadpoles, and various aquatic insects, constitute its principal food. 
There is a bird described by Latham in his General Synop- 
sis, vol. iii, p. 88, called the Demi-EgreU\ which, from the account 
there given, seems to approach near to the present species. It is 
said to inhabit Cayenne. 
^ Named in the plate Louisiana Heron, 
\ See also Buffon, vol. vii, p. 378. 
VOL. VIII. 
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