129* BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Ardea caerulea Linn. 



IIXTLE BLUE HEKON. 



Popular synomyms. Blue Egret; Little White Heron (young); Booby (parts of Florida); 



Garza azul (Mexico). 

 Ardea cceridea Catesby, Carolina, i, 1731, pi. 76 (blue adult). 

 Heron hleuatre de Cayenne BuFF. PL Enl. 1770-84, pi. 349 (blue adult). 

 Ardea cmrnlea Linn. S. N. ed. 10. i,1758, 143. No. 13 (ex Brown, Jam. 478; Catesby, I. c), 1. 1766. 



238, No. 17.— WiLS. Am. Orn. vii, 1813, 117. pi. 62.— NuTT. Man. ii, 1834. 58.— Add. Orn. 



Biog. iv, 1838. 58. pi. 307; Synop. 1839. 260; B. Am. vi. 1843, 148. pi. 372.— COUES. Key. 1872, 



268; Check List. 1873, No. 456.— A. O. U. Check List, 1886. No. 200.— Eidgw. Man. N. Am. 



B. 1887, 130. 

 Florida ccvruUa Baieb, Birds N. Am. 1858, 671; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 490.— RiDGW. 



Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 493.— CouES. Check List, 2d ed. 1882, No. 662.— B. B. &K. 



Water B. N. Am. i. 1881. 43. 

 Blue Heron, var. A. Lath. Synop. iii. 1785. 79 (blue adult. Quotes PL Enl. 319). 

 Ardea ccerulescenb Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, 690, No. 49 (based on the above). 

 Le Crabier bleu a cou hrun Buff. Ois. vii, 399 (blue adult). 

 Blue Eeron Lath. Synop. iii, 1785, 78 (quotes Ardea casrulea, LiNN.). 

 1 Lillle White Ueron,y&T. B. Lath. Synop. iii, 1785. 94 (Mexico. Probably young white 



bird). 

 Ardea ardesiacea Less. Traite, i, 1831,575 (Cayenne. Individual in pied plumage). 

 Iferodias pouclieti Bonap. Consp. ii. 1855, 123 (blue adult). 



"Egretta nivea" GossE, Birds Jam. 1817. 334; Illustr. B. Jam. pi. 90 (young white bird). 

 A rdea c(.erulea, var. aiha. Beichenow. J. f. 0. July. 1877, 264 (white phase). 

 .4r</en cteru/ea, var. cj/aHo/ju.'j, Reichenow, 1. c. (intermediate, or pied, phase. Ex Ardea 



cyanopus Gmel. S. N. i. pt. ii, 1788, 644). 

 Ardea mexicana rinerea Briss. Orn. v, 1760. 404 (intermediate phase). 

 Ardea americonociwereaBBiss. t. o. 406. 

 Ardea cancropliafjus hrasiliensis Bbiss. t. c. 479. 

 Ardea chalybea Stephens. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xi. ii. 1819. 582. 

 ,4 rdea cristata MtJLL. S. N. Suppl. 1766, 111 (based on PI. Enl. 349L 



Had. Warm-temperate eastern North America, the whole of the West Indies and Mid- 

 dle America, and northern South America; north to Massachusetts (accidentally to Maine). 

 Illinois, Kansas, etc.; south to Colombia and Guiana. 



Colored phas& 



Adult: Head and neck rich purplish maroon, with a gl meous east, the feathers more 

 chestnut beneath the surface; rest of the plumage uniform dark bluish plumbeous, the 

 plumes with a glaucous oast, the maroon and plumbeous gradually blended. In breeding 

 .sefison. bill ultramarine-blue at the base, the end black; lores, eyelids, and base of bill, 

 ultramaaine-blue; iris pale yellow'; tiba?, tarsi, and toes black (Audubon). In atitumn. 

 bill light plumbeous on the basal half, the terminal half black; lores and eyelids very pale 

 dull greenish; iris sulphur-yellow; legs and feet uniform pea-green, darker at the joints'. 

 Vonng: Similar in color to the adult, but with less developed plumes, or with none at all; 

 the head and neck more plumbeous. 



1 According to Mr. W. E. D. Soott (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vl, 1880. p. 20). the color of the iris 

 in specimens collected March 20, when they had just begun to breed, at Clearwater, Florida, 

 was "deep lead-color" in eleven and "brown or hazel" in another. 



' From a fresh specimen killed August 6. near Washington, D. 0. 



