Herons and Bitterns 



into yellow; brownish ash under parts; throat white, with 

 line of dark spots widening on breast; back, with pointed 

 lengthened feathers between shoulders, is green, or washed 

 with grayish : wings and tail dark green, the coverts of the 

 former outlined with white. Bill long and greenish black. 

 Rather short legs, greenish yellow. Immature birds lack the 

 lengthened feathers on back, are less brilliant, their crests 

 are smaller, and they have black streaks on their under parts. 



Range — Tropical and temperate America; nests throughout the 

 United States and far into the British possessions; winters 

 from Gulf states southward. 



Season — Summer resident, April to October. 



This smallest, most abundant, and most northern heron 

 comes up from the south in lustrous green plumage that gradu- 

 ally loses its iridescence as nesting duties tell upon the physique; 

 but as it is a solitary, shy bird, very few get a close look at its 

 feathers at any time. Delighting in quagmires, where no rubber 

 boot stays on the foot of the pursuer, the little green heron goes 

 deeper and deeper into the swamp, and keeps well concealed 

 among the rushes by day, coming out to the shores of wooded 

 streams and sedgy ponds toward dusk, when often as not the 

 motionless little figure is mistaken for a snag and passed by. 



Not a muscle does the bird move while patiently waiting 

 for fish, frogs, and newts to come within striking distance of its 

 sharp bill. With head drawn down between its shoulders, it 

 will stand motionless for more hours than the most zealous bird 

 student cares to spend watching it. Where food is e.xceedingly 

 abundant, one may sometimes be seen wading around the edge 

 of the pond with slow, well calculated steps, snapping up the 

 little water animals that also become more active as evening 

 approaches. 



Startle the lone fisherman, and with a hollow, guttuial 

 squatik it springs into the air, but does not tlap its wings long 

 before dropping on some old stump or distended branch to learn 

 whether further flight is necessary. There is a certain laziness 

 or languor about all the herons that they have brought from the 

 tropics with them. When perched on a stump, its receding head 

 thrust forward like a stupid, its apology for a tail twitching ner- 

 vouslv. one sees the fitness of many of this heron's popular names. 

 But why is this inoffensive wader held in such general contempt ? 



It has been stated by some scientists that, unlike many of its 



165 



