THE GREAT BLUE HERON. 



Grotesque and tall, he stands erect, 



Where the reed-riffle swirls and gleams. 



Grave, melancholy, circumspect — 



A hermit of the streams. — Ernest McGaffey. 



RRONEOUSLY called Sand- 

 hill Crane or Blue Crane, by 

 which names it is better 

 known than by its 

 proper name, this bird is well known 

 as one of the most characteristic of 

 North America, breeding, as it does, 

 singly and in colonies from the Arctic 

 regions southward to the West Indies 

 and South America. In the warmer 

 parts of the country it breeds in vast 

 heronries in company with other 

 species of Herons, of which there are 

 eleven or twelve, to which places they 

 resort year after year. It is a common 

 bird, except in localities far removed 

 from streams or ponds which furnish 

 its food supply. 



This solitary and wary bird is 

 usually seen standing in shallow water, 

 often in mid-stream, but it requires 

 great caution and skill on the part of 

 the person who would observe its 

 movements to get a view of him, as he 

 usually first sees the intruder, and 

 startles him by his harsh squawking 

 cries as he flies from his feeding 

 place. 



The nests are placed in trees along 

 rivers, usually the largest. They 

 are bulky structures of sticks on the 

 highest branches, a dozen or more 

 nests sometimes being built in one 

 tree. In localities destitute of trees 

 the nests are built on rocks. Sycamore 

 trees are favorite resorts of these birds, 

 the light color of the limbs and the 

 peculiar tint of the foliage harmoniz- 

 ing so well wnth their plumage as to 

 render their presence difficult of 

 detection. 



The Heron^s food consists of fishes, 

 frogs, crawfish, and the like, large 

 quantities of which must be sacrificed 

 to appease its voracious appetite, as 



many as ten good-sized fishes having 

 been disgorged at one time by a Heron 

 that was in haste to get away, a 

 happy provision of nature which often 

 enables this family of birds to escape 

 from the squirrel hunters and 

 irresponsible gun-carriers. 



The eggs of this species are plain 

 greenish-blue and three or four in 

 number. The young are without 

 plumes, wdiich develop gradually with 

 maturity. 



Dr. Neill mentions a curious instance 

 of the Heron feeding on young Water- 

 hens. A large old willow tree has 

 fallen down into the pond, and at the 

 extremity, which is partly sunk in the 

 sludge and continues to vegetate, 

 Water-hens breed. The old male 

 Heron swims out to the nest and takes 

 the young if he can. He has to swim 

 ten or twelve feet, where the water is 

 between two and three feet deep. His 

 motion through the water is slow, but 

 his carriage stately. He has been seen 

 to fell a rat at one blow on the back 

 of the head, when the rat was munch- 

 ing at his dish of fish. 



While the Heron stands on the 

 water's edge, it remains still as if carved 

 out of rock, with its neck retracted, 

 and its head resting between the 

 shoulders. In this attitude its sober 

 phimage and total stillness render it 

 very inconspicuous, and as it prefers 

 to stand under the shadow of a tree, 

 bush, or bank, it cannot be seen except 

 by a practiced eye, in spite of its 

 large size. 



The flight of the Heron is grand 

 and stately. The head, body, and legs 

 are held in a line, stiff and immovable, 

 and the gently waving wings carrj- the 

 bird through the air with a rapidity 

 that seems the effect of maeic. 



190 



