NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 117 



In regard to the food of these herons I believe that they will eat any living 

 thing that they can swallow. In my collection of stomach contents I have one 

 that contains the remains of a trout, a crawfish, and two dragon flies. Another 

 bird found dead on the Nisqually Flats showed a large bulge about midway 

 down its neck. Examination disclosed a saltwater bull head that was fully a 

 foot long and so bulky that it ought to have seemed impossible for even a heron 

 to try swallowing. Its side fins were set at right angles and their long, sharp 

 spines had pierced clear through the neck of the bird on both sides. Thus it 

 was impossible for the bird to swallow the fish or dislodge it in any other way, 

 so that the death of both was inevitable. The two examples above mentioned 

 are from the Tacoma region. In California I have seen sun-baked fields far 

 from water where many herons of this genus were standing motionless at a dis- 

 tance from each other. This surprised me greatly, until I saw the head of one 

 go down and come up with a small mammal speared on its beak. It seems prob- 

 able that these birds, are decidedly beneficial in ridding us of mice, gophers, 

 and other similar forms. 



D. E. Brown writes to me: 



I think that the northwest coast heron feeds on most anything it can get on 

 the tide flats and along the streams. I have never seen it feeding on dry land 

 as J. H. Bowles has seen them. It eats fish, mice, shrews, and frogs mostly but 

 I think that most anything that is alive is "fish when it comes to its net." I 

 have seen this bird spear a flounder of surprisingly large size, much too large to 

 be lifted from the water; it was landed by being shoved along the bottom to the 

 shore. This was done at quite a rapid rate as though the bird knew it could 

 not keep its head under water for any length of time. I have examined several 

 of these fish after the heron had left it and was certainly surprised at the large 

 size of the flounder, the bird being unable to swallow it or to reduce it in size. 



Major Brooks says in his notes: 



This heron differs very little in habits from the eastern bird except that it 

 seems to affect tidal waters and inlets of the sea to a greater extent. On many 

 portions of the British Columbian coast it is common, even abundant, its favor- 

 ite fishing grounds are the shallow flats on which zostera grows plentifully; 

 here it stands belly deep moving slowly, or not at all, its keen eye fixed on the 

 small open spaces watching for the movement of any small fish that may be 

 moved by the ebb or flow of the tide. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Pacific coast regions of North America from northwestern 

 Washington to the Alaskan Peninsula. Permanent resident except 

 perhaps in the northern part of its range. East and south from Alaska 

 (Cook Inlet, Cordova Bay, Admirality Island, Mitkof Island, and 

 Prince of Wales Island) ; British Columbia (Queen Charlotte Islands, 

 Vancouver Island, Sooke Lake, Sumas, and Okanagan Landing) ; and 

 Washington (Blaine, Cape Flattery, Nisqually Flats, QuiniaultLake, 

 Seattle, Puyallup, and Fort Steilacoom). North to the Alaskan 

 Peninsula (Portage Bay and Cook Inlet). 



Egg dates. — British Columbia: 4 records, May 2 to 30. 

 92642— 26t 9 



