YELLOW-CROWNED HERON. 
43 
thirty-five or forty in number, and, as they contained 
particles of the down of the bird, shewed evidently 
from this circumstance that they act the part of a 
comb, to rid the bird of vermin in those parts which 
if cannot reach with its bill. 
207 . ARBEA VIOL ACE A, LINN^US AND WILSON. 
YELLOW-CROWNED HERON. 
WILSON, PLATE LXV. FIG. I. 
This is one of the nocturnal species of the heron 
tribe, whose manners, place, and mode of building* its 
nest, resemble greatly those of the common night heron, 
(ardea nycticorax ;) the form of its bill is also similar. 
The very imperfect figure and description of this 
species by Catesby seem to have led the greater part 
of European ornithologists astray, who appear to have 
copied their accounts from that erroneous source, other- 
wise it is difficult to conceive why they should either 
have given it the name of yellow-crowned, or have 
described it as being only fifteen inches in length ; since 
the crown of the perfect bird is pure white, and the 
whole length very near two feet. The name, however, 
erroneous as it is, has been retained in the present 
account, for the purpose of more particularly pointing 
out its absurdity, and designating the species. 
This bird inhabits the lower parts of South Carolina, 
Georgia, and Louisiana, in the summer season ; reposing 
during the day among low, swampy woods, and feeding 
only in the night. It builds in societies, making its 
nest with sticks, among the branches of low trees, and 
lays four pale blue eggs. This species is not numerous 
in Carolina, which, with its solitary mode of life, 
makes this bird but little known there. It abounds on 
the Bahama Islands, where it also breeds ; and great 
numbers of the young, as we are told, are yearly taken 
for the table, being accounted in that quarter excellent 
eating. This bird also extends its migrations into Vir- 
ginia, and even farther north ; one of them having been 
