OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. Sl 



Note: Ardea egretta" Gmel. American Egret. 



Belknap ( 1792. III. p. .69) mentions a White Heron among the birds 

 of the state and Mrs. E. U. Webster recently writes me of a bird observed 

 on May [8 1901, at Franklin Falls, "feeding on a wet meadow bordering 

 the Merrimack River." which must have been an Egret. It was seen by 

 several persons and remained in the vicinity two or three days. An un- 

 equivocal instance of its occurrence in the state is yet to be Cited, how- 



ever. 



59. Ardea cjerulea Linn. Little Blue Heron. 



An accidental visitant from the south. The only record is of 

 a bird killed in Amherst, April 28, 1897. It was brought to 

 Mr. James P. Melzer, who states ('97) that it was " in perfect 

 plumage, with maroon neck." 

 CO. Ardea virescens Linn. Green Heron. 



A not uncommon summer resident about the lakes and water 

 courses of the southern part of the state, becoming rarer in the 

 central regions. It is a bird of the Transition zone, and seems 

 to occur regularly about as far northward in New Hampshire as 

 do the white oaks. Mr. E. A. Preble informs me that he has 

 observed it occasionally in summer at Ossipee along the Beech 

 River, but it appears not to occur farther up in the region, as 

 Frank Bolles did not mention it from Chocorua, nor have I any 

 knowledge of its presence at Intervale, in the Saco valley. The 

 bird is also apparently quite absent from the Franconia region, 

 though doubtless a few do work up the Connecticut valley to 

 about this latitude. Mr. F. B. Spaulding of Lancaster writes 

 me that on June 6, 1897, while near the Connecticut at that 

 place, in company with Judge J. N. Clark, a bird flew over 

 which the latter gentleman pronounced to be " unmistakably 

 a green heron." Mr. Spaulding had never met with the bird 

 there previously. Farther south, along the Connecticut in the 

 vicinity of Walpole, I have found the bird not uncommon, and 

 it is rather common at Newfound Lake (Howe, :oi, p. 27). 



Dates : Last of April to October, 



61. Nycticorax nycticorax neevius (Bodd). Black 

 crowned Night Heron. 



A not uncommon summer resident near the coast, but less 



