122 
BLUE HERON. 
JlRDEJl CMRULEA. 
[Plate LXIL— Fig. 3.] 
ArcU Zool. No. 351.— Catesby, I, IQ.—Le Crahier bleu, Buff. VII, 398.— Sloan. Jam. 
II, 315.— Lath. Syn. v. 3, p. 78, No. 45; p. 79, var. A.—Ardea cyanopus, Ind. Orn. 
685, No. 33 ; A. carulea. Id. p. 689, No. 48 ; A. ccsrulescens. Id. p. 690, No. A9.~IIhon 
bleudtre de Cayenne, Plan. Enl. 349,— Peale’s Museum, No. 3782. 
IN mentioning this species in his translation of the Systema 
JVatur^, Turton has introduced what he calls two varieties, one 
from New Zealand, the other from Brasil ; both of which, if we 
may judge by their size and color, appear to be entirely different 
and distinct species ; the first being green, with yellow legs, the last 
nearly one half less than the present. By this loose mode of dis- 
crimination, the precision of science being altogether dispensed 
with, the whole tribe of Cranes, Herons and Bitterns may be styled 
mere varieties of the genus Jlrdea. The same writer has still far- 
ther increased this confusion, by designating as a different species 
his Bluish Heron (A. cserulescens), which agrees almost exactly 
with the present. Some of these mistakes may probably have ori- 
ginated from the figure of this bird given by Catesby, which ap- 
pears to have been drawn and colored, not from nature, but from 
the glimmering recollections of memory, and is extremely erro- 
neous. These remarks are due to truth, and necessary to the elu- 
cidation of the history of this species, which seems to be but im- 
perfectly known in Europe. 
The Blue Heron is properly a native of the warmer climates 
of the United States, migrating thence, at the approach ot winter, 
to the tropical regions ; being found in Cayenne, Jamaica, and 
Mexico. On the muddy shores of the Mississippi, from Baton 
