NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 177 



season. It has been noted commonly at Breton Island reservation, 

 Louisiana, on February 3 (1914); and at Corpus Christi, Texas, late 

 in March, 1878. At the Breton Island reservation it was common at 

 times until November 10 (1913). 



Casual records. — The Louisiana heron apparently is not much given 

 to postnuptial northward wanderings, as it has not been many times 

 detected north of its usual summer range. It has been recorded from 

 California (La Punta, January 17, 1914, and San Diego Bay, March 

 22, 1925); Arizona (near Fort Verde, September 24, 1884); north- 

 eastern Texas (Texarkana); Missouri (Clark County, April 13, 1890); 

 Kentucky (Franklin County, about July 15, 1917); Indiana (Knox 

 County, summer of 1894, and Starke County, June 26, 1876); 

 Virginia (Cobb's Island near Washington, D. C, August 25, 1922); 

 New Jersey (Cape May, August 1, 1920); New York (Patchogue, 

 summer of 1836); and Manitoba (Nettley Lake, 40 miles north of 

 Winnipeg, September 7, 1924). 



Egg dates. — Florida: 57 records, December 8 to June 26; 29 records, 

 April 7 to 26. Louisiana: 10 records, April 9 to June 21. Texas: 

 21 records, April 21 to June 22; 11 records, April 27 to May 16. 



FLORIDA CAERULEA (Linnaeus) 

 LITTLE BLUE HERON 



HABITS 



Although not as widely distributed and not as numerous as for- 

 merly, the little blue heron is still very common in many of our South- 

 ern States. As its plumes have not been in such demand for milli- 

 nery purposes, it has suffered less at the hands of the plume hunters 

 than the white egrets have. It is, however, a shy and retiring species 

 and has retreated somewhat before the advance of civilization. Al- 

 though it is frequently seen feeding in coastal estuaries and ponds it 

 is more essentially a bird of the interior than the other small herons 

 of the Southern States. It seems to prefer to feed in fresh water 

 ponds and marshes and along the banks of inland streams. It breeds 

 by preference farther inland than the other species and its rookeries 

 are seldom near the coast except in fresh water ponds on coastal is- 

 lands. Dr. T. Gilbert Pearson (1922) describes its haunts very well 

 as follows: 



This species inhabits much of the extensive marshlands in our Southland. 

 When traveling through the pine barrens of our South Atlantic and Gulf States, 

 one will often come upon shallow ponds or small lakes whose margins and shal- 

 low reaches are more or less grown over with various water plants and scattered 

 bushes; farther out the leaves of the water lilies are usually much in evidence. 

 About the pond the bare grasslands, or prairies, extend from 100 feet to many 

 hundreds of yards. Here is the natural and favorite feeding ground of the little 

 blue heron. Singly, or in small flocks, they may be seen wading slowly along in 

 the shallow water or standing stationary with heads erect, watching the intruder 



