266 ARDEID.E : HERONS. 



bundle from the hind head. Crown, scapulars and interscapu- 

 lars dark glossy-green ; other upper parts bluish-gray with a 

 lilac or lavender shade, most decided on the neck. Forehead 

 and throat-line white, as are the long occipital plumes. Under 

 parts whitish, tinged with lilac. Eyes red ; lores greenish ; bill 

 black ; legs yellow. Length about 24.00 ; extent about 44.00 ; 

 wing, 12.00-14.00; tail, 5.00; bill, tarsus, and middle toe with 

 claw, each, 3.00. Young very different, being grayish-brown 

 above, the feathers paler edged, conspicuously spotted with 

 white ; the lower parts paler or dull whitish, streaky with darker 

 color ; quills chocolate-brown, white-tipped ; no crest. 



This is another common summer resident of New 

 England, on the whole our best known representative of 

 the family Ardeidce not only on account of the num- 

 bers which pass the season with us, but of their general 

 distribution throughout our country in suitable places, 

 and their colonization by hundreds or even thousands to 

 breed in extensive heronries. At such places, hun- 

 dreds of nests may be seen, sometimes several in the 

 same tree, even so many as ten or a dozen; the 

 trees seeming as if whitewashed with the incessant 

 droppings, and the vegetation beneath them being 

 entirely killed by such excessive manuring. Numerous 

 colonies have been discovered and explored by enthusi- 

 astic ornithologists, particularly in southern New Eng- 

 land. Tall trees are usually selected for the nesting 

 sites, and access to the nests is not always easy. They 

 are bulky platforms of twigs, visible at long distances on 

 the boughs of the trees, which are whitened and more or 

 less bared by their numerous untidy tenants. The eggs 

 are usually four to six in number ; but their variability 

 in this respect, and the fact that the same nest may 

 contain fresh and incubated eggs and hatched young 

 together, makes it probable that the birds carry their 



