HERONS, EGRETS, BITTERNS 75 



2'. Color mainly dark green or slaty and brown. 

 3. Body dark green. 



4. Neck dark chestnut virescens, p. 76. 



4'. Neck light chestnut . anthonyi, p. 77. 



3'. Body slaty ; neck cinnamon ruf esceiis, p. 76. 



Subgenus Ardea. 

 194. Ardea herodias Linn. GREAT BLUE HERON. 



Adults. Upper parts bluish gray ; top of head white, bordered by 

 black and with black occipital crest ; shoulders black, striped with white ; 

 under parts heavily streaked with black and white ; thighs and edge of 

 wings cinnamon brown. In breeding season : crest with two or more slender 

 white plumes. Young : whole crown and crest black ; wing coverts without 

 white or rufous spots. Length : 42-50, wing 17.90-19.85, bill 4.30-6.25, 

 tarsus 6-8. 



Distribution. North America, except northwest coast, from Hudson 

 Bay and Alaska south to Venezuela. 



NesL Usually in tall swamp trees, but sometimes on rocks or the 

 ground, a wide platform of sticks with little lining. Eggs : 3 to 6, dull 

 greenish blue. 



The blue cranes or great blue herons are common along river 

 banks, lake shores, and marshes all over the United States, and are 

 everywhere known both by their stilted pose as they stand in shallow 

 water watching for fish, and by their heavy flight as they move evenly 

 along with crooked neck and big slowly flapping wings. 



1 94a. A. h. fannini Chapm. NORTHWEST COAST HERON. 



Similar to herodias, but with shorter tarsus and darker plumage, the 

 upper parts being bluish slaty black instead of bluish gray ; tibiae more 

 feathered. Wing : 17.50, tarsus 5.38, culmen 5.90. 



Distribution. Queen Charlotte and Vancouver Islands and coast region 

 of British Columbia. 



Subgenus Herodias. 



196. Ardea egretta Gmel. EGRET. 



Plumage always pure white. Adult in nuptial plumage : scapular plumes 

 of dissected filamentose feathers covering back and reaching well beyond 

 end of tail ; head and neck without crests or long feathers ; feet and legs 

 black ; bill yellow, usually blackish near tip. Post-breeding plumage and 

 young : back without plumes. Length : 37-41, wing 14.10-16.80, bill 4.2U- 

 4.90; tarsus 5.50-6.80. 



Distribution. Southern United States and south to Patagonia ; north 

 irregularly to Oregon, Minnesota, and Nova Scotia. 



Nest. In trees or bushes, near water. Eggs : 3 to 5, pale bluish. 



The egret, one of the most beautiful of our birds, has been almost 

 exterminated for its plumes, which are used in millinery as aigrettes. 



Subgenus Garzetta. 



197. Ardea candidissima Gmel. SNOWY HERON. 



Plumage always pure white. Adults in nuptial plumage : scapulars 

 with long plumes of dissected filamentose feathers reaching beyond tail 

 and recurved at tip ; head and throat crested ; feet yellow, legs black ; 



