BLUE HERON. 293 



United States, migrating thence, at the approach of winter, to the 

 tropical regions ; being found in Cayenne, Jamaica, and Mexico. Or. 

 the muddy shores of the Mississippi, from Baton Rouge downAvards to 

 New Orleans, these birds are frequently met with. In spring they ex- 

 tend their migrations as far north as New England, chiefly in the 

 vicinity of the sea ; becoming more rare as they advance to the north. 

 On the seabeach of Cape May, I found a few of them breeding among 

 the cedars, in company with the Snowy Heron, Night Heron, and Green 

 Bittern. The figure and description of the present were taken from 

 two of these, shot in the month of May, while in complete plumage. 

 Their nests were composed of small sticks, built in the tops of the red 

 cedars, and contained five eggs of a light blue color, and of somewhat 

 a deeper tint than those of the Night Heron. Little or no difference 

 could be perceived between the colors and markings of the male and 

 female. This remark is applicable to almost the whole genus ; though 

 from the circumstance of many of the yearling birds differing in 

 plumage, they have been mistaken for females. 



The Blue Heron, though in the Northern States it is found chiefly in 

 the neighborhood of the ocean, probably on account of the greater tem- 

 perature of the climate, is yet particularly fond of fresh water bogs, on 

 the edges of the salt marsh. These it often frequents, wading about 

 in search of tadpoles, lizards, various larvae of winged insects, and mud 

 worms. It moves actively about in search of these, sometimes making 

 a run at its prey ; and is often seen in company with the Snowy Heron, 

 figured in the same plate. Like this last, it is also very silent, intent 

 and w^atchful. 



The genus Ardea is the most numerous of all the wading tribes, there 

 being no less than ninety-six different species enumerated by late 

 writers. These are again subdivided into particular families, each dis- 

 tinguished by a certain peculiarity. The Cranes, by having the head 

 bald ; the Storks, with the orbits naked ; and the Herons, with the 

 middle claw pectinated. To this last belong the Bitterns. Several of 

 these are nocturnal birds, feeding only as the evening twilight com- 

 mences, and reposing cither among the long grass and reeds, or on tall 

 trees, in sequestered places, during the day. What is very remarkable, 

 those night wanderers often associate, during the breeding season, with 

 the others ; building their nests on the branches of the same tree ; and, 

 though differing so little in external form, feeding on nearly the same 

 food, living and lodging in the same place ; yet preserve their race, 

 language, and manners as perfectly distinct from those of their neigh- 

 bors, as if each inhabited a separate quarter of the globe. 



The Blue Heron is twenty-three inches in length, and three feet in 

 extent ; the bill is black, but from the nostril to the eye, in both man- 

 dibles, is of a rich light purplish blue ; iris of the eye gray, pupil black. 



