Birds of Indiana. 655 



Subgenus Akdea. 



65. ( — )• Ardea wuerdemanni Baird. 



Wurdemami's Heron. 



Adult. — Head, entirely white, forehead, streaked with blackish; 

 nearly uniform bluish-gray above; lower parts, white, narrowly striped 

 or streaked with black; thighs and edge of wing, cinnamon-rufous. 

 Young. — Forehead and crown, dull slate color, narrowly streaked with 

 white; feathers of occiput, white, with dusky tips; wing coverts, spotted 

 with rusty, the lower and more posterior with large wedge-shaped 

 white spots. (Eidgway.) 



Length, 48.00-50.00; wing, 20.00-21.00; bill, 5.95-6.50; tarsus, 7.95- 

 8.25. 



Eange. — Florida; accidental in southern Illinois and Indiana. 



Nest, of sticks in trees. Eggs, about 2.60 by 1.84. 



Accidental visitor. Mr. Eidgway reports positively identifying this 

 species in Knox and Gibson counties in 1876. I know of no other 

 account of its occurrence in the State. This is doubtless the same 

 specimen to which he refers as having been seen on several occasions 

 from September 4 to 22, inclusive, at Grand Eapids, in the Wabash 

 Eiver near Mt. Carmel, 111. (Birds of Illinois, II, p. 121.) 



This species is now included in the "hypothetical list" by the Amer- 

 ican Ornithologists' Union. Its relationship is not definitely known, 

 but it is believed to be either the colored phase of A. occidentalis Aud. 

 or an abnormal specimen of .4. ivardi Eidgw. (A. 0. U. check list 

 1895, p. 328.) Until its status is determined it should retain its posi- 

 tion in our list. 



*66. (l^-l). Ardea herodias Linn. 



Great Blue Heron. 

 Synonym, Bli'e Crane. 



Sexes similar. Female much smaller than male. Adult of both 

 sexes grayish-blue above, the neck pale purplish-brown, with a white 

 throat line; the head black, with a white frontal patch; the under- 

 parts mostly black, streaked with white; tibia, edge of wing and some 

 of the lower neck feathers, orange-brown; bill and eyes, yellow; bill, 

 dusky; lores and legs, greenish. The young differ considerably, but axe 

 never white, and can not be confounded with any of the succeeding 

 species. 



