WADING BIRDS 



192. Great White Heron. 

 Ardea occidentalis. 



Range. — This species occurs in the United 

 States regularly, only in the southern parts of 

 Florida. It is a resident of the West Indies. 

 This large white Heron is about the same size 

 as the Great Blue Heron; it has none of the 

 slender plumes found on the smaller White Her- 

 ons. These birds are not uncommon in southern 

 Florida, especially on the Keyes, where they build 

 their nests in company with Great Blue Herons. 

 Their nesting habits and eggs are very similar 

 to those of the Blue Heron. Size of eggs 2.25 x 

 1.80. Data. — Outside of Torch Key, Florida, June 

 16, 1899. Nest a platform of sticks about five feet 

 from the ground, in a mangrove tree. Three eggs. 

 Collector, O. Tollin. 



^"^ 



194. Great Blue Heron. 

 herodias. 



Ardea herodias 



Range. — Nearly the whole of North America, 

 except the extreme north; resident south of the 

 middle portions of the United States and migra- 

 tory north of there. 



This handsome Heron is about four feet in 

 length. Its general color is a bluish gray, reliev- 

 ed by a black crest, primaries and patches on the 

 sides, and a white crown. In the south they breed 

 in large colonies, often in company with many 

 other species. In the northern portions of their 

 range they breed singly or in companies of under 

 a hundred individuals. They generally place 

 their rude platforms of sticks well up in trees, 

 near ponds, swamps or rivers, but in the most 

 northerly parts of their range, where trees are 

 scarce, they often build on the ground. Unless 

 they are disturbed, they return to the same breed- 

 ing grounds, year after year. They lay from three to five eggs of a greenish 

 blue color. Size 2.50 x 1.50. Data.— Duck Island, Maine, May 20, 1883. Three 

 eggs. Nest of sticks and twigs, about fifteen feet from the ground. Collector, 

 R. B. Gray. 



194a. Northwest Coast Heron. Ardea herodias fannini. 



This darker sub-species of the breeding is found along the Pacific coast, 

 north to Sitka, Alaska. Its nests and eggs do not differ from the former 

 species. 



Oreat TV'h 



Great Blue Heron 



121 



