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BIRDS OF AMERICA 



The Great White Heron is equal in size to the 

 common and well-known Great Blue Heron. It 

 is not the proud possessor of beautiful aigrette- 



Photu by H. K. Job Courtesy of Houtjhton Mifflin Co. 



YOUNG GREAT WHITE HERON 



In nest, Florida Keys 



plumes, such as adorn the Egrets, and conse- 

 quently has not been so extensively shot. It 

 occurs mainly on the islands of Jamaica and 

 Cuba, but is not uncommonly found along the 

 coast of Florida. In 191 1 I discovered a colony 

 of seven pairs breeding on the island in Tampa 

 Bay, on the Gulf coast of Florida. This appears 

 to be the northern limit at which they have thus 

 far been found in the nesting period. The nests 

 were about twelve feet above the water and 

 rested among the stronger topmost limbs of man- 

 grove trees. They were huge affairs, made of 

 sticks, and those examined contained either three 

 or four eggs. The little colony covered a terri- 

 tory about eighty feet in diameter. One hundred 

 feet away a number of Florida Cormorants and 

 Louisiana Herons were beginning to build their 

 nests. Apparently the three species were dwell- 

 ing together in harmony. 



Cruising among the Florida Keys and coral 

 reefs near Cape Sable one may often see these 

 giant Herons feeding in the shallow places which 

 everywhere abound. They haunt such localities 

 in south Florida, but one need not look for them 

 inland. Their great size and white plumage 

 render them conspicuous marks which may be 

 seen for a long distance. I have always found 

 the Great \Miite Heron extremelv shy and 

 difficult to approach. Its judgment seems never 

 at fault in determining what is the exact range 

 of a hunter's rifle. T. Gilbert Pearson. 



GREAT BLUE HERON 

 Ardea herodias herodias Linncrus 



.\. O. U. Number 194 See Color Plate 24 



Other Names. — Red-sliouldered Heron; Blue Crane; 

 Crane ; Coir.mun Blue Crane. 



General Description. — Length, 42 to 50 inches. 

 Color above, slaty-blue ; below, black. Head, crested 

 and with long plumes. 



Color. — Adults: Forehead and top of head, white; 

 sides of croicn and crest, black ; neck, pale gray, marked 

 on tliroat with white, rusty and black streaks; chin and 

 cheeks, white ; uf'per f^arts, slaty-blue ; shoulders, 

 grayer ; tail, slaty-blue ; inner wing-quills, slaty-blue 

 shading into black primaries ; plumes of lower neck 

 and breast, gray; abdomen, black with white and rufous 

 streaking ; under tail-coverts, white ; bill, yellow with 

 dusky ridge; legs and feet, dusky, soles yellow; bare 

 space around eye. greenish and blue ; iris, chrome yel- 



The Great Blue Heron is the largest of the 

 truly American herons, and is known as a stately, 

 dignified, and interesting bird by those who have 

 observed it in other wavs than over the sights of 



low. Young: No crest or lengthened feathers on head; 

 entire crown, blackish ; general color above, brownish- 

 slate, the feathers edged with rufous; lesser wing- 

 coverts, reddish-brown ; below, ashy. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually in tall trees along 

 river banks; a large and bulky structure of limbs, twigs, 

 and some dry grass. Eggs : 3 to 6, blue or greenish- 

 blue. 



Distribution. — Western hemisphere; breeds from 

 southeastern British Columbia, central Alberta, central 

 Manitoba, northern Ontario, and Prince Edward Island 

 south to southern Lower California, northern Te.xas, 

 and South Atlantic States (except Florida) ; winters 

 from Oregon, the Ohio valley, and Middle States south 

 to the West Indies, Panama, and Venezuela. 



a shotgun or rifle. This pursuit is legalized in 

 certain regions where the bird is believed to be 

 even more destructive to the spawn and young of 

 game fish than to its other prey of frogs, craw- 



