Ill 
GREAT EGRET HERON.* 
ARDEA EGRETTA. 
[Plate LXL— Fig. 4.] 
Ardea Egretta, Gmel. Syst, 1, 629 ; A. alba. Id. p. ^^9.— Great Egret. Lath. Syn. voL 
3, /j. 89, Ab. 58; Great JVhite Heron, Id. p. 91, No. 60. — Plan. Enl. 925, 886. Le He- 
ron blanc du BresU, Briss. Orn. tome 5, p. 434. — Temm. Man. d'^Orn. p.S12. Peale’s 
Museum, No. 3754 ; Young, 3755. 
THIS tall and elegant bird, tho often seen, during the sum- 
mer, in our low marshes and inundated meadows ; yet, on account 
of its extreme vigilance and watchful timidity, is very difficult to 
be procured. Its principal residence is in the regions of the south, 
being found from Guiana, and probably beyond the line, to New 
York. It enters the territories of the United States late in Fe- 
bruary; this I conjecture from having first met with it in the 
southern parts of Georgia about that time. The high inland parts 
of the country it rarely or never visits ; its favorite haunts are 
vast inundated swamps, rice fields, the low marshy shores of rivers, 
and such like places ; where, from its size and color, it is very con- 
spicuous even at a great distance. 
The appearance of this bird, during the first season, when it 
is entirely destitute of the long flowing plumes of the back, is so 
different from the same bird in its perfect plumage, which it ob- 
tains in the third year, that naturalists and others very generally 
consider them as two distinct species. The opportunities which I 
have fortunately had, of observing them with the train in various 
stages of its progress, from its first appearance to its full growth. 
Named in the plate Great White Heron. 
