NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 179 



deep, were thickets of willows and other small trees and bushes. 

 The little blue herons, with a few black-crowned night herons, and 

 green herons, had established a little rookery in the willow and other 

 bushes around the edges of an open pond, overgrown with wampee 

 lilies {Pontederia cordata). The little blue herons' nests were from 3 

 to 8 feet above the water in the small willows on the borders of the 

 pond or in solitary trees in the open. The nests were very small, 

 frail structures of fine twigs; fully half of them still contained 3 or 4 

 eggs; some young were just hatching and some others were a few 

 days or a week old. 



Doctor Pearson (1919) mentions a colony found by him in Hyde 

 County, North Carolina, in which "the nests were built in cypress 

 and willow trees, at distances varying from 15 to 40 feet from the 

 ground," unusually high nests for this species. Also, another 

 "unusual fact noted was that the trees were not standing in water, 

 but on virtually dry land." My experience has been that the little 

 blue herons build their nests very low down, usually over water or 

 mud, and in dense groups. Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1908) counted 

 32 nests in one bush. The nest is not distinguishable from those of 

 the other small herons; it is a loose, frail platform of small sticks or 

 twigs, very slightly hollowed, and with no lining except that the finer 

 twigs on top may be laid more smoothly. Dr. A. H. Cordier (1923) 

 once watched one of these herons building its nest, of which he says : 



Near a rookery in Florida I witnessed a little blue heron building its nest of fine 

 twigs, gathered from a burned-over area. Each twig was carefully selected from 

 the dead limbs of the same bush, and was broken off and carried to the nest. 

 The trips were made on an average of every 7 minutes and the nest was com- 

 pleted and contained one egg at the end of 48 hours. 



Eggs. — The little blue heron usually lays four or five eggs, sometimes 

 only three, and occasionally six. The shape is usually ovate or oval, 

 varying rarely to elhptical ovate or elliptical oval. The shell is 

 smooth but not glossy. The color is pale bluish green, varying from 

 "light Niagara green" to "lichen green." The measurements of 54 

 eggs average 44 by 33.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four ex- 

 tremes measm-e 49.5 by 35, 45.5 by 35.5, 40 by 33, 40.5 by 30.5. 



Young. — C. J. Pennock contributes the following notes on the 

 behavior of young little blue herons : 



Most of the nests were now empty; the oldest birds were able to use their 

 wings a little and when startled would fly from bush to bush, but I saw none 

 leave the pond. Younger ones were traveling though the branches or vere 

 perched on the tops of the bushes. Other young were on the ground and 

 a few were still too young to leave the nest; although at a very early age, when 

 approached, they showed determination to abandon the nest and scramble over 

 the bushes. Several nests contained single dead birds. A few young were found 

 dead on the ground and in two instances dead juveniles were found suspended 

 by the neck in narrow forks of branches, presumably having fallen and being 

 unable to extricate themselves. One young bird was seen stalking over the 



