ONTARIO. 



beyond the tail ; neck closely feathered ; plumage entirely white at all sea- 

 sons ; legs and feet black. Length, 36-42 inches (not including the dorsal 

 train) ; wing, 16-17 ; bill, nearly 5 ; tarsus, nearly 6. 



Hab. Temperate and tropical America, from Long Island and Oregon 

 south to Buenos Ayres ; casual on the Atlantic coast to Nova Scotia. 



Nest in trees. 



Eggs, 3 to 4 ; pale greenish-blue. 



Although this species has been frequently taken in Ontario. I 

 have no record of it being found nesting within our limits. 

 Several specimens sent to me from Rond Eau and other points 

 on the north shore of Lake Erie were all immature. Dr. 

 Wheaton, in his report on the birds of Ohio remarks that only 

 young birds had been seen there, which rather confirms Dr. 

 Coues' remarks in the " Birds of the Northwest," to the effect 

 that " a certain northward migration takes place in summer 

 among some southerly birds of this class which on leaving the 

 nest seem for a time to wander away in the wrong direction." 

 There is, however, a record in the Auk, vol. 11, page no, Jan- 

 uary 1885, of a pair having been observed at Rockcliffe, on the 

 Ottawa river, in the spring of 1883. The male was shot by Mr. 

 S. H. Mclntyre, and is now in the Museum of the Geological 

 Survey at Ottawa. After being deprived of her mate the 

 female was seen about the place for a day or two and then she 

 went away. The record states that these were the only two 

 birds of the kind ever seen at that point. 



Subgenus BUTORIDES Blyth. 



72. ARDEA VIRESCENS Linn. 20L 



Green Heron. 



Adult in the breeding season with the crown, long soft occipital crest, 

 and lengthened narrow feathers of the back, lustrous dark-green, sometimes 

 with a bronzy iridescence, and on the back often with a glaucous cast ; 

 wing-coverts green, with conspicuous tawny edgings ; neck purplish- 

 chestnut, the throat-line variegated with dusky or whitish ; nnder-parts 

 mostly dark brownish-ash, belly variegated with white ; quills and tail 

 greenish-dusky with a glaucous shade, edge of the wing white ; some of the 

 quills usually white-tipped ; bill greenish-black, much under mandible yel- 

 low ; lores and iris yellow ; legs greenish-yellow ; lower neck with lengthened 



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