THE GREEN HERON. 601 



the tip of bill, black; legs blue,* with black scales. In the 

 immature birds, the bill is similar to the above, and the legs 

 are greenish. The quite young lack the plumes, which in 

 the mature bird are most elegant. Even in the more ad- 

 vanced stages of the white plumage, the ornamental plumes 

 are so fine that some pronounce the white bird the most 

 elegant of all the Herons. The young was first called 

 Peal's Egret, and is still so called by some who believe it 

 to be a distinct species. The nests, built in community, 

 after the manner of the Herons, are made of sticks, and 

 placed on trees or bushes, and contain 2-4 bluish-green eggs, 

 elliptical, 1.45X1.95. Wintering in Florida, this species 

 ranges in summer from the Carolinas to Key West. 



Very common on the interior lakes and rivers of Florida, 

 and in many parts of the Southern States, is the Little Blue 

 Heron (^Ardea ccerulcd). Rather small, some 22 inches long 

 and 38 in extent, of a dark slaty-blue, with head and neck 

 tinged with violet, it is especially quick and agile in move- 

 ment, swift in flight, and very shy except on its breeding 

 grounds. 



The 2-4 eggs are elliptical, or oval, and dark bluish- 

 green. The young are white, with tips of primaries and 

 crown tinged with blue. Passing through every stage of 

 blue mottling, it takes several years to reach the complete 

 blue livery; and from white to blue, through all intermedi- 

 ate stages, they may be seen breeding together, a white one 

 sometimes being mated with a mature one, as is also the 

 case with the Reddish Egret. 



THE GREEN HERON. 



In the first fascinating charms of my ornithological 

 studies I stumbled on the Green Heron {Ardea rirescefis). 

 Throughout the Union, along inland streams and about 

 ponds and marshes, it is the most common and familiar of 



