78 WADING BIRDS. 



GREAT BLUE HERON. 



blue crane. 



Ardea herodias. 



Char. General color ashy blue, darker on the wings ; thighs and 

 edge of wings chestnut; crest white, bordered by black, from which ex- 

 tend two long, slender black feathers ; spots of dusky and chestnut on 

 front of the neck ; under parts dusky, broadly striped with white ; long 

 and slender plumes of pale pearly gray hang from the breast and fall 

 gracefully over the wings (these plumes are wanting in the autumn) ; bill 

 longer than the head, stout, and acute, of yellow color ; legs and feet 

 black. Length about 42 to 50 inches. 



A^esi. Usually with a community situated in a sycamore or cypress 

 swamp, or (at the North) in a grove of deciduous trees; placed on the 

 upper branches of tall trees, — sometimes on bare rocks; made of small 

 dry twigs, and lined each year with fresh green twigs. 



Eggs. 3-5 (usually 4) ; greenish blue; 2.50 X 1.50. 



The Great Heron of America, nowhere numerous, may be 

 considered as a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic States, from 

 New York to East Florida, in the storms of winter seeking out 

 open springs, muddy marshes subjected to the overflow of 

 tides, or the sheltered recesses of the cedar and cypress swamps 

 contiguous to the sea-coast. As a rare or accidental visitor, 

 it has been found even as far north as Hudson Bay, and com- 

 monly passes the breeding-season in small numbers along the 

 coasts of all the New England States and the adjoining parts 

 of British America. Mr. Say also observed this species at 

 Pembino, in the 49th parallel. Ancient natural heronries of 

 this species occur in the deep maritime swamps of North and 

 South Carolina : similar associations for breeding exist also in 

 the lower parts of New Jersey. Its favorite and long-fre- 

 quented resorts are usually dark and enswamped solitudes or 

 boggy lakes, grown up with tall cedars, and entangled with an 

 under-growth of bushes and Kalmia laurels. These recesses 

 defy the reclaiming hand of cultivation, and present the same 

 gloomy and haggard landscape they did to the aborigines of 

 the forest, who, if they existed, might still pursue through the 

 tnngled mazes of these dismal swamps the retreating bear and 



