ARDEA. 165 
Hab. Nort America, Gulf States, casually northward to New Jersey and Indiana 2¢6,— 
Mexico (Deppe & Schiede1®1"), Presidio de Mazatlan (Forrer2’), Mazatlan 
(Grayson *°, Bischoff®°), Manzanilla Bay (Xantus*®°), Tampico (Sumichrast }, 
hichardson*"), Vera Cruz (Sallé ®), Playa Vicente (Zrujilio 2”), San Baltazar (Ferrari- 
Perez), Tehuantepec city (Sumichrast 1°), Yucatan, Progreso (Schott 13, Stone & 
Baker **), Cozumel I. (Gauwmer*’); Brirish Hoyporas, Turneff Lagoon, Belize 
coast (O. 8.2"); Guatemaa Pacific coast (0. 8. & F. D.G."1), Chiapam 1°, San José 27, 
Huamachal *” (0. S.) ; Nicaracua, Momotombo (Richardson2"), Rio Escondido 
(Zichmond *°), San Juan del Sur, Pacific coast (Nutting); Costa Rica (v. Frant- 
zius”), Punta Arenas (Zeledon?); Panama®, Lion Hill Station 2? (M‘Leannan), 
Rio Sabana (festa °).— VENEZUELA * ; Gutana*; West-Inp1AN Is. 27. 
This Heron is an inhabitant of the Gulf States of North America, occasional stragglers 
reaching north to New Jersey and Indiana. In Florida it is resident and nests 
abundantly, and that it breeds in Cuba and Jamaica is proved by the eggs in the 
Crowley collection. Specimens of A. tricolor from Guiana have been regarded by 
_ Mr. Ridgway as distinct from the North- and Central-American race, A. rujicollis, but 
we agree with Dr. Bowdler Sharpe that the two cannot be separated. 
In Western Mexico, according to Grayson, A. tricolor is a resident, and very common 
at Mazatlan, as it is indeed throughout the whole of Central America to Panama, and 
we ourselves saw many among the lagoons on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, but never 
far inland. Whether it breeds south of Mexico is uncertain, and it is probably only a 
winter visitant. Mr. Nutting found the species abundant on the Pacific coast of 
Nicaragua, and Messrs. Stone and Baker record it as very common in the mangrove- 
swamps at Progreso in Yucatan. 
A, tricolor is apparently less hardy than other small Herons, as Audubon relates 
that on one occasion, in Florida, a frost in January caused this bird to disappear 
until the weather became warmer, whilst the other Herons all remained. He also 
says that it is the most delicate in form, beautiful in plumage, and graceful in its 
movements of any member of the family. The food consists of small fish, lizards, 
snails, and insects, at seizing which it is very expert. 
The nest is a flat structure made of small dry sticks, with scarcely any lining, and 
placed on low trees and bushes. The birds breed in companies, and many hundreds of 
nests have been found together. ‘The eggs are three (occasionally four, or even five) 
in number. 
“5. Ardea cerulea. 
The Blew Heron, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carol. i. t. 76°. 
Ardea cerulea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 238°; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 280°; v. Frantzius, 
J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 876°; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 218°; Cat. Strickl. Coll. p. 517°; P. ZS. 
1883, p. 4277; Ibis, 1889, p. 376°; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 170°; Zeledon, 
