NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 197 



ably Little Owens Lake) ; Arizona (Big Sandy Creek, Verde River 

 and San Pedro River), and Sonora (San ^edro River). South to 

 Sonora (San Pedro River) ; Arizona (Tombstone and Yuma) ; and 

 Lower California (Gardners Laguna and Los Coronados Islands). 

 West to Lower California (Los Coronados Islands) ; and California 

 (San Diego, Whittier, Santa Barbara, Buena Vista Lake, Alcalde, 

 San Benito, Gilroy, Alameda, Gloverdale, and Ukiah). Has oc- 

 curred in summer north to Yreka, California, and Fort Klamath, 

 Oregon. 



Winter ranges. — North to California (Old Fort Tejon, and San Ber- 

 nardino). East to Jalisco (Ocotlan) ; Michoacan (Zamora) ; the 

 Valley of Mexico; Guerrero (El Limon) ; Oaxaca (Tehuantepec) ; and 

 Costa Rica (San Jose). South to Costa Rica (San Jose) ; and Oaxaca 

 (Tehuantepec) . West to Guerrero (El Limon) ; the Plains of Colima; 

 Sinaloa (Mazatlan); Lower California (San Jose del Cabo and Mira- 

 flores);and California (San Bernardino and Old Fort Tejon). Cas- 

 ually north to Oakland and Stockton (Belding). 



Migration. — Early dates of arrival in Calif ornia- are : vSanta Barbara, 

 April 3, 1920; Gilroy, April 21, 1916; Palo Alto, April 13, 1919; 

 Stockton, April 4, 1885, and Redbluff, May 9, 1884. 



Late dates of departure in California are: Stockton, early October, 

 1878; Gilroy, Septmber 19, 1914; Santa Cruz, September 8, 1895; 

 Clovis, September 7, 1905, and Santa Barbara, September 17, 1909, 



Egg dates. — California: 22 records, April 16 to June 17; 11 records, 

 May 12 to 25. Arizona: 13 records. May 5 to July 16; 7 records, 

 May 11 to June 27. 



NYCTICORAX NYCTICORAX NAEVIUS (Boddaert) 



BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON 



HABITS 



The familiar night heron or "quawk" is one of the best known 

 and most widely distril)uted of our herons. Closely related forms 

 of the same species are found throughout much of South America, 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa. Throughout its wide North American 

 range it is practically homogeneous. It is decidedly different in 

 many ways from our other herons; its short, stout iigure is easily 

 recognized; and it well deserves the name of night heron. How 

 often, in the gathering dusk of evening, have we heard its loud, chok- 

 ing squawk and, looking up, have seen its stocky form, dimly out- 

 lined against the gray sky and propelled by steady wing beats, as it 

 wings its way high in tiie air towards its evening feeding place in 

 some distant pond or marsh! And hov/ often, as we walked along 

 the reedy border of some marshy creek or pond hole, have we been 

 startled by its croak of alarm, as it rose unexpectedly from behind 

 the reeds and flew deliberately away, a wide band of black supported 



