NIGHT HERON. 
109 
dark blue, glossed with green ; front and line over the eye white ; 
from the hind-head proceed three very narrow white tapering fea- 
thers, between eight and nine inches in length : the vanes of these 
are concave below, the upper one enclosing the next, and that again 
the lower ; tho separated by the hand, if the plumage be again 
shook several times, these long flowing plumes gradually enclose 
each other, appearing as one ; these the bird has the habit of erect- 
ing when angry or alarmed : the cheeks, neck and whole lower 
parts are white, tinctured with yellowish cream, and under the 
wings with very pale ash; back and scapulars of the same deep 
dark blue, glossed with green, as that of the crown ; rump and tail 
coverts, as well as the whole wings and tail, very pale ash ; legs 
and feet a pale yellow cream color ; inside of the middle claw 
serrated. 
The female differed in nothing as to plumage from the male, 
but in the wings being of rather a deeper ash ; having not only the 
dark deep green-blue crown and back, but also the long pendent 
white plumes from the hind-head. Each of the females contained 
a large cluster of eggs of various sizes. 
The young (fig. 3.) was shot soon after it had left the nest, 
and differed very little from those which had been taken from the 
trees, except in being somewhat larger. This measured twenty- 
one inches in length, and three feet in extent ; the general color 
above a very deep brown, streaked with reddish white, the spots 
of white on the back and wings being triangular, from the centre 
of the feather to the tip ; quills deep dusky, marked on the tips 
with a spot of white ; eye vivid orange ; belly white, streaked with 
dusky, the feathers being pale dusky, streaked down their centres 
with white ; legs and feet light green ; body and wings exceedingly 
thin and limber ; the down still stuck in slight tufts to the tips of 
some of the feathers. 
These birds also breed in great numbers in the neighbor- 
hood of New Orleans ; for being in that city in the month of June, 
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VOL. VII. 
