THE GREEN HERON 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



%tt iRattonal Si00omtion ot Slunuton ^ociititQ 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET No. 66 



The Green Heron is the smallest North American member of that sub- 

 family of birds sometimes called True Herons. From tip to tip the expanse of 

 wings of one of ordinary size is two feet. When the bird stretches its neck 

 to its greatest length, the distance from the end of its tail to the point of its 

 bill is seventeen inches. Its legs, like those of all Herons, are sufficiently long 

 to enable it to wade in shallow water. These are destitute of feathers along 

 the greater part of their external length, which is a characteristic common to 

 all birds which are in the habit of wading much in the water. The bill is long 

 and very sharp at the end. 



Many species of Herons inhabit chiefly extensive marshes, the shores of 

 lakes, large streams, or the vast swamps of the South. The Green Heron, 



however, by no means confines its travels or stopping-places to 

 Habitat such localities. Wherever ponds, creeks, or even small branches 



occur, especially if these be in open country, there you are likely 

 to find this bird. Because, therefore, of its general distribution, more people 

 probably have a bowing acquaintance with the Green Heron than with any 

 other member of the family. It is in part nocturnal in its habits, and in many 

 regions of the United States it is not uncommon to hear its guttural note 

 when, on still summer nights, it wings its way across the country from one feed- 

 ing-range to another. If you chance to be working your way along a creek bank, 

 you may startle the bird from its roost in the willows oi from its feeding- 

 place among the rushes or tall grass growing in the shallow water. On such 

 occasions it will fly away with a startled cry, sometimes passing entirely out 

 of sight, but, if not unduly alarmed, will often alight on some tree or snag 

 nearby and, with jerking tail and raised crest, proceed to survey the intruder 

 with ill-concealed disapproval. 



The writer well recalls the first Green Heron's nest he ever saw. This 

 was down in the pine barren regions of central Florida. The country is here 



largely underlaid with soft limestone, through which a net- 

 in the Sink work of underground streams gurgle along their subterranean 



courses. Here and there the soft rock becomes disintegrated 

 and washed away to such an extent that the earth above, gives way and falls 

 into the cavern beneath. Thus are formed the many "natural wells" and "sink- 

 holes" which one finds scattered about through the country. It was in a 

 bush growing from the side of the rock, and hanging o\'er the water in one 

 of these sink-holes, that a i)air of Green Herons, long years ago, built the 



