125 
LITTLE WHITE HERON.* 
JlRDEJl CJlROLIKEmiS. 
[Plate LXIL— Fig. 4.] 
Little mite Heron, Catesby, I, p. 77.— Lath. Sup. v. l,p. 236.—Jrdea Carolinensis Can- 
dida, Le Heron blanc de la Caroline, Briss. Orn. tome 5, p. 435, young? Plan. Enlum. 
901. — Peale’s No. 3748; Youngs A'b. 3749. 
THIS elegant species inhabits the seacoast of North America 
from the isthmus of Darien to the gulf of St. Lawrence, and is, in 
the United States, a bird of passage ; arriving from the south early 
in April, and leaving the middle states again in October. Its ge- 
neral appearance, resembling so much that of the Little Egiet of 
Europe, has, I doubt not, imposed on some of the naturalists of 
that country, as, I confess, it did on me.f From a more careful 
comparison, however, of both birds, I am satisfied that they are two 
entirely different and distinct species. These differences consist 
in the large flowing crest, yellow feet, and singularly curled plumes 
of the back of the present ; it is also larger than the European 
species. 
The Little White Heron seems particularly fond of the salt 
marshes during summer ; seldom penetrating far inland. Its white 
plumage renders it a very conspicuous object, either while on wing, 
or while wading the meadows or marshes. Its food consists of 
those small crabs usually called fiddlers, mud worms, snails, frogs 
and lizards. It also feeds on the seeds of some species of nymphae, 
and of several other aquatic plants. 
* Named in the plate, by mistake, the Little Egret. 
■j- “ On the American continent the Little Egret is met with at New York and Long 
Island.” Lath. v. Ill, p. 90. 
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