82 Birds of Colorado 



There is a clutch of five eggs of this bird in the Colorado 

 College Museum, presented by I. C. Hall. They were 

 taken by the donor near Greeley on June 1st, 1903. 

 The nest is described as a platform of rushes among 

 cat-tails, about ten inches above the level of the shallow 

 water. The eggs, oval and white with a pale blue tinge, 

 measure 1*20 x *90. This, so far as I know, is the only 

 instance of a nest being found in Colorado, and I have 

 every confidence in the correctness of the identification. 



Genus ARDEA. 



Large birds — wings 18 to 21 — with a long, straight, point-ed beak, 

 about two-thirds the length of the tarsus ; tail short of twelve feathers ; 

 legs long, the lower third, at least, of the tibio-tarsus bare ; tarsus longer 

 than the middle toe and claw ; head with two long plumes in the 

 breeding season ; feathers of the fore-neck and scapulars elongated, 

 but not decomposed. 



A universally spread genus of about a dozen species, with only one 

 commonly known in North America. 



Great Blue Heron. Ardta herodias. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 194— Colorado Records— Aiken 72, p. 209 ; 

 Nash 83, p. 225 ; Drew 85, p. 18 ; Morrison 89, p. 166 ; Cooke 97, 

 pp. 18, 61, 157, 197 ; Dille 03, p. 74 ; Henderson 03, p. 234 ; 07, p. 162 ; 

 09, p. 227 ; Marliman 07, p. 155 ; Rockwell 08, p. 158 ; Warren 09, p. 13. 



Description. — Adult — Top of the head white bordered by black, and 

 with a black occipital crest, which bears two or more long slender plumes 

 in the breeding season ; neck purplish-grey, with a mixed white, black 

 and rusty throat line, becoming white on the chin and cheeks ; shoulders 

 and under-parts chiefly black, striped with white ; upper-parts bluish- 

 grey, becoming black on the primaries ; tibial feathering and edge of 

 the wing chestnut ; iris yellow, bill yellow, darker along the culmen, 

 feet blackish. Length about 45 ; wing 19-25 ; tail 7-5 ; culmen 6-0 ; 

 tarsus 7-25. 



The female is smaller — wing about 18-25. In the non-breeding 

 plumage the long occipital plumes are absent and the scapulars are not 

 lengtliened and lanceolate. The young birds have no lengthened 

 feathers, the whole crown is black, and the colours generally paler 

 and less distinct. 



