BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON 281 



often to trees when startled. When flying they extend their 

 legs behind them, but instead of stretching out their necks 

 as ducks do, they shorten them by taking in a "tuck." 

 The Night Heron feeds largely after dusk. 



Black-crowned Night Heron. Nycticorax nycticorax 



ncevius 



24.00 



Ad. — Crown and back black ; wings and tail gray ; forehead 

 and under parts white. Im. — Upper parts, wings, and tail brown, 

 streaked and dotted with white ; under parts lighter, streaked 

 with brown and white. 



Nest, in trees. Eggs, pale bluish-green. 



The Night Heron is a summer resident of New York 

 and New England, common along the coast, but rare or 

 absent in the interior ; it occasionally winters in southern 

 New England. It breeds in communities which occasionally 

 number many hundred individuals. In feeds chiefly in 

 shallow, tidal creeks ; even if it breeds at some distance 

 inland, it often flies at dusk to the salt marshes or to the 

 beach. Its hoarse quok, almost like the bark of a dog, is 

 therefore a very familiar sound along the coast. In the day- 

 time it roosts in trees ; in late summer flocks gather which 

 sometimes reach into the hundreds. Though it feeds chiefly 

 after dusk, yet it is occasionally seen in the daytime, either 

 standing at the edge of small marshy pools or along the 

 shore, or flapping heavily over the marshes. 



Adults are easily identified by their white under parts, 

 ash-gray wings and tail, and the black crown and upper 

 back. The immature birds are brown, spotted with white 

 or buffy. When seen flying at a distance it is difficult to 

 identify them with certainty, until one becomes familiar 

 with the characteristics of their flight, which is slow and 

 heavy; the strokes are alternated with periods of sailing, 

 during which the wings are curved slightly downward. 



