258 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



Near Snelling the Great Blue Heron builds its bulky stick nests in the 

 tall cottonwoods along the river. The belief is held locally that once the 

 birds select and use a tree for this purpose the tree immediately dies. 

 It is probably true, however, that the birds choose the oldest trees in the 

 vicinity, such as are likely soon to die anyway. In the Yosemite Valley 

 and higher country these birds are reputed to be very destructive to 

 trout. The one bird obtained on Tuolumne Meadows, probably a straggler 

 from the vicinity of Mono Lake, had only mammal hair and parts of a 

 crustacean in its stomach. 



Anthony Green Heron. Butorides virescens anthonyi (Mearns) 



Field characters. — Size small for a heron; length about 16 inches. Top of head 

 greenish black; back and wings, grayish green; neck and shoulders, reddish brown; 

 under surface chiefly grayish. Flight labored but direct; legs extending backward 

 beyond tail. Voice: A moderately loud hoarse squawk; also clucking notes. 



Occurrence. — Summer visitant in small numbers along Merced and Tuolumne rivers. 

 Seen near Mountain King Mine, August 17, 1915, near Snelling, April 26, 1916, and 

 2 miles southwest of Lagrange, May 7, 1919. Frequents vicinity of sluggish water, 

 perching on lower branches of overhanging willows; usually flies out over the water 

 when changing position. 



The Anthony Green Heron is to be met with only at low elevations 

 and then chiefly along the slower moving streams and the ponds bordered 

 by willows. Only three of the birds were actually seen by us, but the 

 species is undoubtedly a regular summer visitant along the lower reaches 

 of both the Merced and Tuolumne rivers. We have two records of birds 

 seen from the windows of a moving train. Travelers en route to the 

 Yosemite Valley are thus likely to catch sight of this heron while traversing 

 the lower Merced canon. 



Our most intimate knowledge of the Anthony Green Heron was 

 obtained on May 7, 1919, when a nest was discovered in a dense stand of 

 willow and cottonwood trees on the bank of a slough near the Tuolumne 

 River about 2 miles southwest of Lagrange. Great Blue and Night herons 

 breed in colonies and place their bulky nests in plain sight in the tops of 

 tall trees where the birds can command a wide range of vision. But the 

 little Anthony Green Heron nests solitarily ; it shows a marked preference 

 for seclusion; it hides its nest in dense growths of willow or cottonwood, 

 just beneath the green leafy crowns of these trees. The nest found by us 

 was so located, about 25 feet above the ground in a slender willow, one 

 of many that slanted toward the adjacent pond. The nest was supported 

 on three twigs about 10 millimeters in diameter, which grew out on the 

 under side of the trunk. The sitting bird had an almost clear view of the 

 ground below, as there were but few bare dead branches beneath her, and 

 practically no undergrowth. When disturbed she flushed directly through 

 the leaves above her head and made off over the nearby water. 



