HERON FAMILY 



191 



In that portion of the United States that the 

 Little Blue Heron inhabits it is one of the most 

 common members of the Heron family. It is 

 generally seen in flocks, inhabiting the shallow- 

 ponds and grassy lake-sides of the Southern 

 States. With slow deliberation they wade care- 

 fully along, their bright yellow eyes scanning 

 the shallows in quest of the fish, water-insects, 

 or frogs upon which they subsist. Upon the ap- 

 proach of eyening they take flight and with 

 measured wing-strokes pass across the country, 

 sometimes for several miles, to a favorite revest- 

 ing place in the trees of a swamp, or on some 

 island. In spring they assemble in colonies, often 

 by hundreds, and build their nests in the small 

 trees or bushes of some isolated and favorite 

 pond. These " rookeries " are usually inhabited 

 also by other species of Herons and sometimes 

 bv other varieties of water birds. 



The young are first covered with white down 

 which later is rejilaced by white feathers. Not 

 until two years of age do they assume the blue 

 plumage of the adult. During the second sum- 

 mer individuals may be seen representing all 

 stages in this change of feathers. Some are 

 white with only a few blue feathers showing, 

 while others, further developed, are entirely blue 

 except for scattering spots of white. The Little 

 Blue Heron is one of the comparatively few 

 birds that mates and rears young while yet 

 clothed in the feathers of youth. I recall visiting 

 a colony of perhaps forty [lairs on one occasion, 

 every bird of which was still in the white phase 

 of plumage. 



Because of their white appearance they are 

 often mistaken for Egrets and many times these 

 rarer birds are reported as being seen in a 

 neighborhood, when a closer inspection by a 

 competent observer would easily reveal the 

 mistake. 



After the nesting season the birds wander all 

 over the country hunting for good feeding 

 grounds. It is an odd fact worthy of mention, 

 that the young take trips farther afield than do 

 their parents ; and thus it happens that in the late 

 summer immature Little Blue Herons are con- 

 stantly recorded far to the north of their breed- 

 ing grounds, where the adult birds are seen only 

 at verv rare intervals, if at all. Old Herons 



possess a very pretty tuft of long plumes on their 

 backs in summer, but these decorations never 

 appear on the bird while in the white plumage. 



Being fish eaters their fiesh is not at all es- 

 teemed as a table delicacy. Init in remote regions 

 the colonies are often raided for their eggs for 

 which some people profess a fondness. Their 



Photo by H. K. Job Courtusy ot Houghton Mifflin Co, 



LITTLE BLUE HERON 



chief natural enemies appear to be water mocca- 

 sins and alligators, with which most rookeries 

 are infested. The former climb into the trees 

 and swallow the eggs, the latter devour the young 

 when they fall from the nest. 



T. GiLBEUT Pearson. 



Vol. I- 



14 



