NOTES ON THE HERONS OF THE DISTRICT OF 



COLUMBIA 



By PAUL BARTSCH 



The extensive tidewater marshes bordering the two arms of the 

 Potomac at Washington afford splendid feeding grounds for many 

 of our birds, particularly the water birds and waders, and are doubt- 

 less responsible for the large number of the latter which visit the 

 District of Columbia each season. Birds as large and beautiful as 

 our herons are always conspicuous marks and must of necessity be 

 shy to keep from serving as targets for the ever-present gunner. It 

 is this habit, I am sure, which has led many persons to deem it neces- 

 sary to visit secluded swamps, or even the subtropical everglades of 

 Florida, to see herons in their native haunts, whereas a little search 

 might reveal these wary members in their own locality where they 

 may even rear their young. 



No fewer than nine of the eighteen species which inhabit North 

 America have been recorded within the limited area of the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia ; four have been found breeding, and the Great 

 Blue Heron, which is with us in small numbers all the year, is 

 strongly suspected of conducting his domestic affairs within our 

 territory. 



The most abundant member of the family is the Black-crowned 

 Night Heron {Nycticorax Nycticorax nccvius), or Quak, as he is 

 usually called by the untutored (plate xxxv, 2). He is about 25 

 inches long, with bright-red eyes, black bill, and pale yellow legs 

 and feet ; the feathers of the crown are glossy greenish-black, except 

 three long, narrow, white plumes which stream downward over the 

 equally glossy greenish-black back ; the forehead, neck, and median 

 underparts are creamy-white, shading gradually to ashy on the sides, 

 while the wings and tail are deep ash-gray. 



Three colonies of these birds have their breeding grounds within 

 the District and a fourth has been reported only a short dis- 

 tance beyond its limits. All of these are in small, dense pine 

 coppices. In 1902 I visited two of these at various times while 

 tenanted. In the latter part of April most of the nests, which were 



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