196 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



(1913) mentions a nest near Fresno, California, which was 30 feet 

 from the ground; there is a set in the CaUfornia Academy of Sciences, 

 taken at Napa, California, from a nest, at the same height, in a 

 maple tree; and Lam'cncc M. Huey (1915) records a nest found 

 near San Diego, "situated in the top of a willow tree about 50 feet 

 high." 



Eggs. — ^The eggs of this heron are not distinguishable from those of 

 our eastern green heron. Two rather remarkable sets of eggs have 

 been taken in San Diego Countj^ Cahfornia, by Mrs. May Canfield 

 and Messrs. D, R. Dickey and L. M. Huey. They were taken on 

 Ma3' 11 and 30, 1915, and contained eight and nine eggs, respectively. 

 In writing to me about these two sets, Mr. Dickey says : 



The presumption is that the two sets were laid by the same birds and the 

 interesting possibility of polygamy, or at least of two females laying in one nest, 

 suggests itself. In former years, several pairs had nested in that general vicinity, 

 but with the thinning out of the bottom-land timber, only these two nests v/ere 

 located in 1915. Of course, the actual cause of these large sets is purely specu- 

 lative, but — as I say — the thought that possibly the scattered colony had been 

 reduced to two females laying in one nest, with one male as the mate of both, is 

 not beyond the realm of such pure speculation. 



The measurements of 51 eggs average 39 by 29.7 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 42 by 29.8; 40.7 by 31.5; 

 36.5 by 28.7; and 39 by 28.2 millimeters. 



Plumages. — A. J. van Rossem writes to me regarding the molts 

 and plumages of the two western subspecies of green herons, as follows: 



We have exceptionality good series of various subspecies of the green heron, 

 particularly anthonyi and fraseri, and the following notes are based principally 

 upon these two races. There is a complete post juvenal body molt in most indi- 

 viduals. The new plumage is very similar to that of the adult, but as the juve- 

 nal remiges and their coverts are retained, there is no particular difficulty in 

 separating the adults from birds of the year. The white-tipped primary coverts 

 of the juveniles are subject to little wear, and retain their character until lost at 

 the first postnuptial molt. One juvenile of anthonyi at hand has skipped the 

 post-juvenal molt entirely and is, in April, still in pure juvenal plumage. Such 

 circumstance is probably rather rare, although some October juveniles show no 

 traces whatever of any post juvenal plumage. The spring prenuptial molt is a 

 very limited one, particularly in adults, and amounts to little more than the 

 taking on of some additional plumes on the back. In the first spring birds, 

 there are also a few new feathers in evidence on the shoulders. By far the 

 majority of the long, lanceolate feathers of the back are taken on with the fall 

 plumage, and therefore cannot be properly cljissed as "lireeding plumage." 

 Some fresh post juvenal birds have plumes fully as long as the average adult of 

 the same sex. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range .—CaMiorma, southern Arizona and Mexico to (rarely) Costa 

 Rica; north rarely to southern Oregon. 



Breeding range.— T^orih to California, (Ukiah, Lower Lake and 

 Colusa). East to California (Colusa, Grafton, Murphy, and prob- 



