ZOOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT. 43 



St> ID-t (ftoo). Ardea herodias iyWJi. * Great Blue Heron. 



Very common; throughout the state; "Grand Traverse county, where there is a 

 heronry" (Dr. M. L. Leach); "common at Iron Mountain" (E. E. Brewster); breeds in 

 colonies; nests in May, in tall trees, near marshes; '■ sticks in nests sometimes one inch 

 in diamater and five feet long " (Prof. J. W. Simmons); Dr. W. C. Browcell knows of 

 three heronries near Morrice, Shiawassee county. He says the stench is terrible at 

 nesting time. There are often six nests in a tree. The trees, he says, are sure to die; 

 eggs four to six. blue; S. E. White took three nests with tive, one with six and one 

 with seven eggs from one tree. May 2, 1881. There was a large heronry just west of 

 Lansing for years. The nests, which were numerous, were in large sycamores w^hich 

 stood in a large marsh. I secured several birds and eggs from this place. Dr. Steere 

 reports heronries in black ash swamps about Ann .\rbor. " Heronries are quite com- 

 mon in Southwestern Michigan. The birds fish three times daily. I have taken 

 thirty -tive minnows, from two to four inches long, from the stomach of one of these 

 birds" (J. W. Sirnmons). C B. Cook took a fish that was twelve i»ches long and 

 weighed over one pound from the stomach of a Heron. These birds are often very 

 fearless. I have often walked to within a rod or two of a bird before it would fly. 



Sl-19<>-((>58). Ardea egretta Gmel. American Egret; Great White Hkron; 

 Great White Egret. 



Very rare: wanderer from the south; A. H. Boies reports it from Lenawee, Hills 

 dale, St. Joseph and Jackson counties; Jerome Trombley reports it from Monroe Co.. 

 where he took one in 1889; "occasionally abundant in July and August, undoubtedly 

 breeds in the state, but where?" (Dr. M. Gibbs); "quite common in late summer in 

 Wayne county, where they are taken half grown, but who knows where they breed'" 

 (Dr. W. C Bi'ownell); we had one in our museum taken from Jackson Co.; one taken 

 by J. B. Pvirdy at Plymouth and now in his cabinet; two taken at Greenville, Mont- 

 calm Co., in 1890 by Prof. Jas. Satterlee; Dr. Atkins does not mention this bird; 

 "breeds in Northern Wisconsin and without doubt in the Northern Peninsula of 

 Michigan (Prof. Ludvvig Kumlein); doubtless breeds in Northern Indiana (Butler's 

 Birds of Indiana); this species is given in Sager's list of 1839. There is a fine specimen 

 in the collection of Mr. Levi Broas, taken in Ionia county. 

 S2-197-((j55)). .Irdea caiididissima Gmel. Snowy Heron; Little White Egret. 



Very rare: wanderei' from the south; "a rare accidental visitor during July and 

 .\ugust, does not breed " (Dr. M. Gibbs). 



S3-199-(6(>0). Ardea tricolor nificollis Gonse. Louisiana Heron; Louisiana Egret: 

 Ladv of the Waters. 



Exceedingly rare; summer wandei-er from the South; one specimen reported by 

 E. L. Moseley in the catalogue of the Kent Scientific Institvite at Grand Rapids; one 

 reported by A. H. Boies from Lenawee Co.; one reported from northern Indiana 

 (Butler's Birds of Indiana): Dr. M. Gibbs thinks this bird should be omitted from the 

 list. 



.S4:-201 (6(i5{). Ardea virescens Linn. Green Heron: Fly up the Creek. 



Common; " throughout the State" (A. H Boies); summer resident; two killed on 

 college farm in May; '■ common at Ann Arbor "' (Dr. J. B. Steere); " common in Monroe 

 Co." (Jerome Trombley); "Keweenaw Point '' (Kneeland); found nesting at Plymouth 

 by J. B. Purdy; often quite tame; breeds: nests often in small colonies as does the (ireat 



