The Great Blue Heron {Ardea herodias) 



By W. W. Woollen 



Length : Forty-eight inches. 



Range : North America from the Arctic regions, southward to the West 

 [ndies and northern South America. 



The family Ardeidae is composed of the bitterns and herons, and has in it 

 about seventy-five species, members of which are found in all parts of the 

 world, but most frequently in the torrid and temperate zones. The family is 

 divided into two sub-families, namely: (1) Botaurinse, composed of the bitterns, 

 and, (2) Ardeinse, composed of the herons. Of the herons there are nine species 

 in the Middle West, and of these the Great Blue Heron is, perhaps, the most 

 distinguished member. 



■ In his Key to North American Birds, Mr. Elliott Coues says : "It is in this 

 family that powder-down tracts reach their highest development; and although 

 these peculiar feathers occur in some other birds, there appears to be then only 

 a single pair : so that the presence of two or more pairs is probably diagnostic of 

 the family. In the genus Ardea and its immediate allies there are three pairs, 

 the normal number ; one on the lower back over the hips, one on the lower belly 

 under the hips, and one on the breast along the track of the formula." The 

 powder-down feathers referred to in the foregoing quotation are feathers which 

 are remarkable for continuing to grow indefinitely, and with this there is a 

 constant breaking off of the ends of the barbs. In the illustration they are readily 

 seen over the hips and in front of the breast. Mr. Coues says their use is not 

 known, but Mr. Baskett says that "it has been ascertained that in Herons at 

 least these spots are phosphorescent at night, and that fish are thereby lured 

 within easy reach." 



The great blue heron, commonly called the blue crane, is about four feet 

 long from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail and has a wing extent of about 

 six feet. Its bill is from four to six inches long and of a horn color; iris of the 

 eye, yellow ; center of crown and throat, white ; sides of crown black, this color 

 meeting on the back of the head where the feathers are lengthened and form an 

 occipital crest ; neck, pale greenish-brown ; feathers of the lower foreneck narrow 

 and much lengthened, sometimes with black streaks ; back, wing coverts and tail 

 slaty gray; bend of wing, chestnut rufous; tail, very short and even; black patch 

 and white feathers on the side of the breast ; breast and belly streaked with black 

 and white ; tibia long, upper half feathered and of rufous color, lower half bare 

 and yellowish ; tarsus about eight inches long and black ; feet, black ; from tip of 

 front toe to tip of hind toe, eight inches ; hind toe is on a level with the others ; 

 claws moderate, curved and acute with the inner edge of the middle one pecti- 

 nated. Formerly it was believed that the middle toe was pectinated for the purpose 

 of enabling the bird to seize fish with its feet, but it is now understood that this 



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