10 



NIGHT HERON. 



NIGHT HERON. 



NIGHT RAVEN. SPOTTED RAVEN. GARDENIAN HKRON. 

 LESSER ASH-COLOURED HERON. JAMAICA NIGHT HERON. 



PLATE CLX. - FIGURE III. 



Nycticorax Europceus, STEPHENS. 



Ardea Nycticorax, LINNAEUS. 



Ardea Gardeni, GMELIN. 



Ardea obscura, LATHAM. 



birds form heronries, either, according to 

 -*- Audubon, near plantations, or in the interior of 

 retired and secluded swamps, as well as on some of 

 the sea islands covered with evergreen trees. These 

 are formed in low bushes, or in middle-sized or tall 

 trees, as seems most convenient or secure. In some 

 places the nests are placed within a few yards of the 

 ground, many on the branches, others between the 

 diverging boughs of the trees; in others at the tops 

 of the trees, at an elevation of not much more than 

 twenty feet; and in others again in tall cypresses, at 

 a height of a hundred feet, or thereabouts. The nest 

 is fabricated of sticks, and is large in size and flat in 

 shape; it is lined with reeds, rushes, grass, and leaves. 

 The eggs are commonly four in number, sometimes 

 five, and of a pale greenish blue colour. 



