. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States [microform]. Birds; Oiseaux. ^m 308 NIGHT HERON. Orleans, for being in that city in the month of June, I frequently ob- served the Indians sitting in market with the dead and living young birds for sale; also numbers of Gray Owls (Strix nebuloaa), and the White Ibis (Tantalus albus), for which nice dainties I oh-<erved they generally found purchasers. The food of the Night Heron or Qua-Bird, is chiefly composed of small fish, which it takes by night. Those that I opened had a large expan- sion of the gullet im
. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States [microform]. Birds; Oiseaux. ^m 308 NIGHT HERON. Orleans, for being in that city in the month of June, I frequently ob- served the Indians sitting in market with the dead and living young birds for sale; also numbers of Gray Owls (Strix nebuloaa), and the White Ibis (Tantalus albus), for which nice dainties I oh-<erved they generally found purchasers. The food of the Night Heron or Qua-Bird, is chiefly composed of small fish, which it takes by night. Those that I opened had a large expan- sion of the gullet immediately under the bill, that narrowed thence to the stomach, which is a large oblong pouch, and was filled with fish. The teeth of the pectinated claw were thirty-five or forty in number, and aa they contained particles vl the down of the bird, showed evidently, from this circumstnnee, th «i, they act the part of a comb, to rid the bird of vermin, in those parts which it cannot reach with its bill. Note.—In those specimens which I have procured in the breeding season, I have taken notice that the lores and orbits were of a bluish white; but in a female individual, which I shot in East Florida, in the month of March, these parts were of a delicate violet color. The Brown Bittern of Catesby (Vol. I., pi. 78), which has not a little confounded ornithologists, is undoubtedly the young of the Night Heron. Dr. Latham says of the former, " we believe it to be a female of the Green Heron.—They certainly differ," continues he, "as Brisson has described them; but by comparison, no one can fail of being of the opinion here ; If the worthy naturalist had had the same opportunities of comparing the two birds in question as we have had, he would have been aa confident that they are not the same, as we arc.— a. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectois
