3 88 



Trees, Stars, and Birds 



River except in city parks. 

 They nest on the ground, and 

 the young are able to run 

 soon after they are hatched. 

 They get part of their food 

 from marshes, as herons do, 

 but frequently from the up- 

 lands also. They eat vegeta- 

 ble food as well as field mice, 

 snakes, lizards, and frogs. 

 While migrating, they fly in 

 long files. 



When flying, herons can be 

 told from most birds by their 

 long, outstretched legs. When 

 standing at the edge of the 

 water waiting for a chance to 



spear a frog, fish, or snake, the heron is apt to be so still 

 as to escape the notice of a person near by. 



One of the most common members of the family is the 

 little green heron, which nests in trees in the vicinity of 

 streams, usually each pair by itself. The great blue 

 heron is often called a crane by those who fail to distin- 

 guish between the birds of these families. It builds for 

 a nest a platform of sticks, usually in a large sycamore 

 or other tall tree. Several of these broad nests may be 

 built in one tree top, and formerly hundreds of them 

 might be seen in one forest. In the breeding season the 

 birds resort to the same heronry year after year. Often- 

 times there is not more than one heronry, or breeding 

 place, of the great blue heron in a county, and many 



Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 

 FIG. 240. American bittern, a 

 member of the heron family. 



