WATER BIRDS. 



145 



cloudy and rainy weather. Its loud and unmusical squawk suggests at 

 the same time the croak of the bull-frog and the call of a young crow. 



The nest is carelessly built of twigs and small sticks, usually placed 

 from eight to thirty feet from the ground and not necessarily close to 

 water; we have known it to be built in orchard trees and shade trees at 

 least a quarter of a mile from water, although it is more often found in the 

 low trees and swampy thickets which 

 directly border streams and ponds. 

 The eggs are three to six, blue, un- 

 spotted, and average 1.50 by 1.14 

 inches. 



Ordinarily the nests are widely 

 scattered, but more rarely a small 

 colony of three to six pairs may be 

 found. Dr. Morris Gibbs visited five 

 nests of this kind found "in willow 

 bushes near a creek, from 4 to 10 feet 

 from the ground" in Kalamazoo Co., 

 in May, 1878. 



The food is varied, but in addition 

 to the usual fish and frogs it eats large 

 numbers of insects, not always aqua- 

 tic. One taken at New Haven, Conn., 

 "had the stomach filled principally with little salt-marsh minnows, and 

 in addition contained an eel, some kind of a water bug, several grasshop- 

 pers and two spiders " (Buck, Nidiologist, III, 37). One killed at Boone- 

 ville, N. Y., had the stomach "filled with grasshoppers." 



Fig. 37. Foot of Green Heron. 



Showing partly bare tibia and pectinate middle 



claw. (Original.) 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult: Entire top of head dark lustrous green, blackish in front; back and upper 

 surface of wings and tail green of nearly the same shade as top of head, the elongated, 

 narrow interscapulars often with a bluish-white gloss and the slender shafts pure white; 

 most of the wing-coverts narrowly margined with yellowish-white; chin and upper throat 

 white, scarcely streaked; median line of middle and lower throat striped brown and white; 

 entire sides of head and neck rich dark chestnut with a purplish gloss at the back; remainder 

 of under parts smoky-gray; primaries slaty-blue; iris yellow; bill brownish-black above, 

 greenish-white below; legs and feet green. Sexes alike. Young somewhat like the adult 

 but with little clear chestnut or green; everywhere streaked with light and dark, and the 

 wing-coverts with much broader light edgings than in the adult. Length 15.50 to 22.50 

 inches; wing 6.30 to 8.00; culmen 2 to 2.55; tarsus 1.75 to 2.15. 



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