Resident in the Floridas and Texas, where it is abundant. Migrates eastward to New Jersey, where it is rare; up the Mississippi to Natchez. Never seen far inland. Louisiana Heron, Ardea Ludoviciana, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 13. Ardea Ludoviciana, Bonap. Syn. p. 305. Louisiana Heron, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 51. Louisiana Heron, Ardea Ludoviciana, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 136; v. v. p. 605. 376. 12. Ardea candidissima, Gmel. Snowy Heron. Plate CCXLII. Male. Feathers of the upper and hind part of the head very long, loose, decurved; of the middle of the back very long, loose, decurved, with their extremities recurved; bill and legs black; toes yellow. Plumage pure white. Young white, with the legs and toes dull green. _Male_, 22-1/2, 38. Resident from Texas to Florida. Migrates in spring as far as Massachusetts. Breeds in all intermediate districts; up the Mississippi to Memphis. Abundant. Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima. Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vii. p. 120. Ardea candidissima, Bonap. Syn. p. 305. Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 49. Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 317; v. v. p. 606. FAMILY XXXIX. ANATINÆ. DUCKS. Bill of moderate length, stout, straight, depressed toward the end, obtuse, covered with soft skin; upper mandible transversely convex, with the margins internally lamellate, the tip furnished with a decurved horny broad unguis; lower mandible with the angle long and narrow, the crura slender, flattened, the edges internally lamellate, the tip a flattened unguis. Nostrils elliptical, open, subbasal. Head of moderate size; neck long or of moderate length, slender; body full; legs generally short, stout, with little of the tibia bare; tarsus scutellate; toes four, first small; anterior three palmate. Claws moderate, arched, compressed, obtuse. Plumage very full, dense, soft. Wings of moderate length, curved, acute, outer two quills longest. Tail short, of twelve or more feathers. Tongue fleshy, with a median groove, lateral reversed papillæ, laminæ, or bristles, and a semicircular thin horny tip; œsophagus narrow, slightly enlarged at the lower part of the neck; stomach a transversely elliptical gizzard, of which the lateral muscles are excessively developed, the epithelium dense, with two concave grinding surfaces; intestine long and wide; cœca long, cylindrical, contracted at the base. Trachea various, generally much enlarged at the bifurcation, without inferior laryngeal muscles, or only with the slips of the lateral muscles prolonged. Nest generally on the ground; eggs numerous. Young clothed with stiffish down, and able to walk and swim from birth. GENUS I. PHŒNICOPTERUS, Linn. FLAMINGO.