156 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



80 [201] Butorides virsecens (Linn.). 

 Little Green Heron ; " Shite-poke." 



Common summer resident ; May 6 to October 2. 

 Eggs : June 2. 



In the spring from 1876 to 1879 inclusive, I found the nests of this Httle 

 Heron in the grove of pitch pines back of the beach at Magnoha. This region 

 has long since been " improved " and the birds have left. The young birds, with 

 their natal dow^n still adhering to the juvenal feathers and forming a halo around 

 their heads, are expert climbers among the tree tops, long before they are able 

 to fly, as one who attempts to photograph them soon finds to his cost. 



When walking about, the adult Little Green Heron twitches his tail down- 

 ward nervously, and frequently erects and depresses his crest. His neck is cer- 

 tainly an elastic one, as he often draws it in until he appears to have no neck at 

 all, and then stretches it to the length of his body. I once found one sleeping 

 perched on the limb of a tree with neck drawn in. He awoke, stretched his 

 neck to the full extent, shook himself so that all his feathers stood out, and then 

 flew away, uttering his characteristic penah. 



One can imagine that the physiological effect of fright in these birds, which 

 has given rise to such classic names as "Chalk-line" and "Shite-poke," must 

 serve a useful purpose in blinding the stealthily creeping pursuer, be it carnivore 

 or savage. Turner^ speaking of the Heron says : " It routs Eagles or Hawks, 

 if they attack it suddenly, by very liquid mutings of the belly, and thereby 

 defends itself." 



Little Green Herons, although they visit the salt marshes, are more com- 

 mon in the fresh marshes. 



81 [202] Nycticorax nycticorax naevius (Bodd.). 

 Black-crowned Night Heron; Quawk. 



Abundant summer resident ; March 27 to October 19. 



Eggs : May 2 to June 13. 



This is by far the most familiar Heron to the dwellers along the seacoast 



' A. H. Evans, ed. and transl. : Turner on Birds .... first published 1544, p. 39, 1903. 



