32 
ARDEA ALBA, 
plumes of the breast and back ; and have the body, neck, 
and lesser coverts of the wing’s, considerably tinged 
with ferruginous. 
On dissection, the gullet was found of great width, 
from the mouth to the stomach, which has not the two 
strong muscular coats that form the. gizzard of some 
birds ; it was more loose, of considerable and uniform 
thickness throughout, and capable of containing nearly 
a pint ; it was entirely filled with fish, among which 
were some small eels, all placed head downwards ; the 
intestines measured nine feet in length, were scarcely 
as thick as a goose-quill, and incapable of being dis- 
tended ; so that the vulgar story of the heron swallowing 
eels, which, passing suddenly through him, are repeatedly 
swallowed, is absurd and impossible. On the external 
coat of the stomach of one of these birds, opened soon 
after being shot, something like a blood-vessel lay in 
several meandering folds, enveloped in a membrane, and 
closely adhering to the surface. On carefully opening 
this membrane, it was found to contain a large, round, 
living worm, eight inches in length ; another, of like 
length, was found coiled, in the same manner, on another 
part of the external coat. It may also be worthy of 
notice, that the intestines of the young birds of the 
first season, killed in the month of October, when they 
were nearly as large as the others, measured only six 
feet four or five inches ; those of the full grown ones, 
from eight to nine feet in length. 
203 . ARDEA ALBA , LINNiEUS ARDEA EGRETTA , WILSON. 
GREAT WHITE HERON. 
WILSON, PLATE LXI. FIG. IV. 
This tall and elegant bird, though often seen, during 
the summer, 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 
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