CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. I4I 



fifteen and twenty nests in it. They used to breed in Muskoka in 

 great numbers, but have been driven farther back and are rather 

 scarce now. I have known one to sit upon a heap of floating mud 

 in a small lake, for thirty-six hours, catching fish. They feed upon 

 frogs and fish. At Crane lake, Sask., I counted thirteen nests in a 

 clump of Negundo aceroides on June i6th, 1894. {Spreadborough.) 

 Heronries are now generally deserted in the vicinity of London, Ont., 

 and the birds are much less common than formerly. Single nests 

 are now more and more the rule. Eggs, four and five, sometimes 

 spotted with deep black. These spots consist of pitch which the 

 birds bring on their feet from the fish nets in Lake Erie, They may 

 be removed by the use of ether or other solvents of tar. {W . 

 Saunders.) 



194a. Northwest Coast Heron. 



Ardea herodias fannini Chapman. 1901. 



Queen Charlotte and Vancouver islands and coast region of 

 British Columbia. It is probable that all the great blue herons 

 on the west coast are this variety. 



Common on the tide flats at Douglas, B.C. from April 15th when 

 I reached there until I left in May. Two seen at Chilliwack lake, 

 July loth, 1906. Breeds also on Vancouver island. {Spread- 

 borough.). Often seen feeding at low tide on the beaches and 

 mud flats of Skidegate and Cumshewa inlets. Queen Charlotte 

 islands. (Osgood.) 



195. European Blue Heron. 



Ardea cinerea Linn. 1758. 



Said by Crantz to have been seen in south Greenland, August 27th, 

 1765; a young bird foung dead near Nenortalik in 1856 was sent 

 to Copenhagen. (Arct. Man.) Several specimens taken since 1856. 

 (Winge.) 



LXXV. HERODIAS Boie. 1822. 



196. American Egret. 



Herodias egretta (Gmel.) Cabanis. 1856. 



Casual in summer in Nova Scotia. (Downs.) One shot at Grand 

 Manan, New Brunswick, in 1878, (C. /. Maynard.) This species 



