124 HISTORY OF THE 



during the day but assemble in large numbers at their roosting 

 places and breeding grounds. They are more restless than the 

 larger species, rise lighter, strike quicker on the wing, and are a 

 less patient watcher for their prey, preferring in shallow water 

 to give chase, partially raising their wings as they run, and a 

 flock so engaged, darting here and there after a school of small 

 fishes, is a lively and exciting sight. Eggs usually four; pale 

 greenish blue; in form, oval to elliptical oval. A set col- 

 lected April 27th, 1882, near Corpus Christi, Texas, from a nest 

 built of weeds and grass on the top of a low, flat cactus, are in 

 dimensions: 1.68x1.27, 1.70x1.26, 1.71x1.28, 1.73x1.30. 



Subgenus FLORIDA Baird. 



"Small Herons, dark plumbeous, with maroou-colored necks; bluish white, 

 with bluish tips to some of the primaries; or witii the plumage variously Inter- 

 mediate between these extremes. Bill slender, acute, appreciably curved toward 

 the tip, the culmen somewhat depressed just above the anterior end of the nos- 

 tril; lower edge of the mandibular rami slightly concave, the gonys nearly 

 straight, but ascending; anterior point of the malar feathers reaching just about 

 as far forward as that of the frontal feathers, and very far posterior to the pos- 

 terior end of the nostril; anterior point of chin feathers almost directly beneath 

 the anterior end of the nostril and a little over two-thirds the distance from the 

 middle of the eye to the point of the bill. Toes long, the middle one two-thirds 

 or more as long as the tarsus, the hallux a little less than half its length; bare 

 portion of the tibia considerably less than the middle toe. Tarsal scutellse as 

 in Garzetta and Herodias. 



"Nuptial plumes (occipital, jugular and scapular) long, slenderly lanceolate, 

 the webs rather compact, especially those of the dorsal region; those of the back 

 reaching, when fully developed, far beyond the tail." 



Ardea coerulea Linn. 



LITTLE BLUE HERON. 

 PLATE IX. 



Summer visitant; rare. Arrive from the soutli in July and 

 August; return in September. 



B. 490. R. 493. C. 663. G. 227, 56. U. 200. 



Habitat. The whole of tropical and warm temperate Korth 

 America, except western United States; casually north to Mas- 

 sachusetts, Illinois, Kansas, etc. ; south throughout the West In- 

 dies to Colombia and Guiana. 



