GREAT HERON. 
31 
head of Tuckahoe river, in Cape May county, New 
Jersey. In this case, the females could not be mistaken, 
as some of the eggs were nearly ready for exclusion. 
Length of the great heron, four feet four inches 
from the point of the bill to the end of the tail ; and to 
the bottom of the feet, five feet four inches ; extent, 
six feet; bill, eight inches long, and one inch and a 
quarter in width, of a yellow colour, in some blackish 
on the ridge, extremely sharp at the point, the edges 
also sharp, and slightly serrated near the extremity; 
space round the eye, from the nostril, a light purplish 
blue ; irides, orange, brightening into yellow where 
they join the pupil ; forehead and middle of the crown, 
white, passing over the eye ; sides of the crown and 
hindhead, deep slate, or bluish black, and elegantly 
crested, the two long, tapering, black feathers, being 
full eight inches in length ; chin, cheeks, and sides of 
the head, white for several inches ; throat, white, thickly 
streaked with double rows of black ; rest of the neck, 
brownish ash, from the lower part of which shoot a 
great number of long, narrow pointed, white feathers, 
that spread over the breast, and reach nearly to the 
thighs ; under these long plumes, the breast itself, and 
middle of the belly, are of a deep blackish slate, the 
latter streaked with white ; sides, blue ash ; vent, 
white ; thighs and ridges of the wings, a dark purplish 
rust colour ; whole upper parts of the wings, tail, and 
body, a fine light ash, the latter ornamented with a 
profusion of long, narrow, white, tapering feathers, 
originating on the shoulders or upper part of the back, 
and falling gracefully over the wings ; primaries, very 
dark slate, nearly black ; naked thighs, brownish yellow ; 
legs, brownish black, tinctured with yellow, and netted 
with seams of whitish ; in some, the legs are nearly 
black. Little difference could be perceived between 
the plumage of the males and females ; the latter were 
rather less, and the long pointed plumes of the back 
were not quite so abundant. 
The young birds of the first year have the whole 
upper part of the head of a dark slate ; want the long 
