Blue Heron SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. 



Great Blue Heron : Ardea herodias. 



Blue Crane. 



PLATE 69. 



Length : 42-50 inches. 



Male and Female : Long, black crest, the two longest feathers of 

 which are shed in the summer moult. Upper parts and tail 

 bluish slate, below black and white streaked, forehead and 

 crown white. Feathers about neck long and loose. Bill yel- 

 low and dusky ; legs and feet dark. This Heron can be recog- 

 nized by its great size and bluish slate back ; it is not distinctly 

 blue at all. 



Season : Common, nearly resident, may breed. (Averill.) 



Breeds : Locally through range. 



Nest : Usually a rude pile of sticks in a tree. 



Eggs : 3, large, and of a dull bluish green-. 



Range : North America from the Arctic regions, southward to the 

 West Indies and northern South America. 



Without question the Great Blue Heron, locally called 

 the Blue Crane, is one of the most picturesque birds that 

 we have in New England, and only divides the honours 

 with the Bald Eagle and the Great Horned and Snow Owls. 

 In many places they appear in small flocks, but I have 

 never seen them here, except as individuals or occasionally 

 in pairs. They are wild, suspicious birds, and yet, if they 

 think themselves unobserved, they will stand almost motion- 

 less by the side of a small stream or pond half a day at 

 a time, only bending the long neck at intervals to seize some 

 frog or other edible. You may stand by a smooth mill-pond 

 walled by trees that hang into the water. Through many 

 gaps the distant meadows stretch, almost as smooth as the 

 pond, but of a different hue ; it is a lovely, placid scene, but 

 needs a bit of life to draw it to a focus. Look a second 

 time ; upon the muddy edge of one of the little islands, in 

 bold relief, sphinx-like, stands a solitary Blue Heron, and 

 you at once understand why Egypt gave reverence to the 

 Ibis. Deliberately it spreads its wings that winnow six 

 feet of air, and flies slowly across the water, its legs hang- 

 ing like twin reeds with clawing roots. 

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