NORTH AMERICAN MARSH MRDS 97 



does not include the wings cand tail, in winter and spring. The pre- 

 nuptial molt produces a higher development of the long plumelike 

 feathei-s of the head, breast, and back in the spring than is seen in 

 fall birds, but these plumes are more or less present at all seasons in 

 adults. 



Observations on this species would be incomplete without some 

 reference to the hypothetical species which has been named Wiirde- 

 mann's heron (Ardea wuerdemanni Baird) and has been the subject 

 of so much discussion and so many theories as to its status. This 

 birdvv^as first described by Baird in 1858 as a distinct species, but 

 later developments suggested its relationship to A. occidentalis Audu- 

 bon, or to A. vmrdi Ridgway, or to both. Later Mr. Ridgway 

 (1880) published the following note based on observations made by 

 Dr. J. W. Velie of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. 



In his rep-y to my letter he makes this very interesting and, in view of certain 

 curious facts which I have already brought to notice, very suggestive statement, 

 that in two instances, once in 1872 and again in 1875, he found about half grown 

 young, one each of A. occidentalis and A. tvuerdemanni, in the same nest. This 

 evidence is all that was needed to settle the question of the identity of the two 

 forms in question, and there can now be no doubt that they represent two phases 

 of one species, bearing to one another exactly the same relation as that between 

 Ardea rufescens, Bodd., and A. pealei, Bonap, 



While collecting in the Florida Keys with Dr. Frank M. Chapman 

 and Louis A. Fuertes, we found on March 27, 1908, on Clivc Key, a 

 large heron's nest containing three young herons, two of which were 

 apparently Ward herons and one a great white heron. Doctor Chap- 

 man photographed the nest and preserved all of the young, which 

 are now in the American Museum of Natm'al History in New York. 

 Near this nest Doctor Chapman shot a fine speciman of Ardea louerd- 

 emanni and I shot typical specimens of both A. occidentalis and A. 

 herodias wardi, as it is now called, as well as specimens in immature 

 plumage which showed characters somewhat intermediate between 

 the last two forms. I do not consider the finding of these young her- 

 ons or those found by Doctor Velie conclusive evidence of dichroma- 

 tism, for it is possible, and even probable that these two species 

 occasionally lay in each others nests, or hybridize, as they are very 

 closely related and on very friendly terms where their ranges overlap 

 and where they nest in communites in close proximity to each other. 



Ernest G. Holt made h very thorough study of this group of herons 

 in the same region, during the winter of 1923-24, and has kindly 

 placed his unpublished notes at my disposal. He summarizes the 

 contents of the nests examined as follows: 



A total of 40 nests were examined on Buchanan, Barnes, Bowlegs, Clive, and 

 Oyster Keys, and an unnamed key near the last, and found to contain 48 young 

 whites, 38 young blues, and .31 eggs. Forty-seven of the white nestlings were 

 found on Buchanan, Barnes, and Bowlegs Key; one on east Oyster Key. Eighteen 



