108 



HEIiONS. 



ish (looking dark in the living bird when seen at a distance); 

 neck, chestnut-red with line down middle in front, of mixed 

 black and white; beneath, brownish slate; iris and bill , yel- 

 low; bill and space in front of eye, brown and yellow, fig. 124 

 Young, more or less marked with reddish above. Breeds 

 through temperate N. A. southward to Fla. and southern 

 S. A. A very agile species springing into air quickly and fly- 

 ing with rapid wing-beats. Note, a rather shrill cry fre- 

 quently repeated several times. Common, frequenting the 

 swampy margins of rivers and ponds w^here it breeds, plac- 

 ing its nest in low trees or bushes, sometimes, as among the 

 Florida Keys, at the base of mangroves near the ground. 

 Bather solitary, but sometimes associating in scattered com- 

 munities to breed. Winters from the Carolinas southward, 

 li. Night Heroiis. Nycticorax. 



Medium sized, quite robust herons with thick bills, short 

 legs, and large eyes; no elongated plume feathers excepting 

 two or three long and narrow ones on back of head, fig. 125. 

 Colors, whitish or ashy with top of head and back black. 

 Largely nocturnal in habit. 



1. BLxlCK-CBOWNED NIGHT HEEO^, N. naevius 

 25.00; bill, 3.00: ashy-white, darkest above; top of head and 



back, blackglossedwith green- 

 ish; bill, blackish; feet, yel- 

 low; eyes, carmine, fig. 125. 

 Young, the second year lack 

 the white head plumes and are 

 much tinged with rufous 

 above, the black showing only 

 in patches. Young, the first 

 year are streaked throughout ., 

 with yellowish-white and ^g^i/_ 

 brownish, fig. 125, small figure. _r 

 America as far north as Mani- -^ 

 toba and Ontario and as far 

 south as the Falkland Islands ~^^^ 

 and eastward through the Ba- 



Fig. 125. 



I, B, h, 1. 



