LITTLE WHITE HERON. 
127 
The length of this species, when full grown, is two feet one 
inch ; extent three feet two inches ; the bill is four inches and a 
quarter long, and grooved ; the space from the nostril to the eye 
orange yellow, the rest of the bill black ; irides vivid orange ; the 
whole plumage is of a snowy whiteness ; the head is largely crest- 
ed with loose unwebbed feathers, nearly four inches in length ; an- 
other tuft of the same covers the breast ; but the most distinguish- 
ed ornament of this bird is a bunch of long silky plumes, proceed- 
ing from the shoulders, covering the whole back, and extending 
beyond the tail : the shafts of these are six or seven inches long, 
extremely elastic, tapering to the extremities, and thinly set with 
long slender bending threads or fibres, easily agitated by the 
slightest motion of the air— these shafts curl upwards at the ends. 
When the bird is irritated, and erects these airy plumes, they have 
a very elegant appearance ; the legs and naked part of the thighs 
are black ; the feet bright yellow ; claws black, the middle one 
pectinated. 
The female can scarcely be distinguished hy her plumage, 
having not only the crest, but all the ornaments of the male, iho 
not quite so long and flowing. 
The young birds of the first season are entirely destitute of 
the long plumes of the breast and back ; but, as all those that were 
examined in spring were found crested and ornamented as above, 
they doubtless receive their full dress on the first moulting. Those 
shot in October measured twenty-two inches in length, by thirty- 
four in extent ; the crest was beginning to form ; the legs yellow- 
ish green, daubed with black ; the feet greenish yellow ; the lower 
mandible of the bill white at the base ; the wings, when shut, nearly 
of a length with the tail, which is even at the end. 
