HERO N. 



783 



burking of a large dog when at a distance. In those 

 places where it comes as a straggler it is not exclu- 

 sively found close by the waters, as is the case with 

 those herons which are more exclusively fishers ; it 

 ranges the moist meadows and damp corn-fields, but 

 the former only where the grass is sufficiently tall 

 for affording it concealment. 



LOUISIANA HERON (A. Ludoviciana). This is, as its 

 trivial name imports, an American species, but to the 

 northward of Carolina it is seldom found on the 

 Atlantic shores, nor does it advance far up the valley 

 of the Mississippi in its northern migrations. It is 

 not known as a resident bird in any part of North 

 America, but its home is said to be in the marshy 

 districts of the north parts of South America. Its 

 length, from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, 

 is twenty-three inches ; the long hair-like plumage of 

 the rump, and lower part of the back, extends several 

 inches farther; the bill is of considerable length, 

 measuring at least five inches, of a yellowish green 

 colour at the base, black towards the point, and very 

 sharp ; the irides are yellow ; chin and throat white, 

 dotted with rust-colour, intermingled with blue; the 

 rest of the neck is of a light vinous purple, intermixed 

 on the lower part next the breast with dark slate- 

 coloured plumage ; all the feathers of the neck are 

 long, narrow, and pointed ; head crested, consisting 

 of, first, a number of long, narrow, purple feathers, 

 and under them seven or eight pendent ones, of a 

 pure white, and twice the length of the former ; upper 

 part of the back and wings light slate-colour ; lower 

 part of the buck and rump white, but concealed by a 

 mass of long unwebbed hair-like plumage, that bends 

 over the tail arid tips of the wings, extending three 

 or four inches beyond them ; these plumes, at the 

 base, are of a dirty purplish brown, and lighten 

 towards the extremities to a pale cream-colour ; the 

 tail is even at. the tip, somewhat longer than die wings, 

 and of a beautiful fine slate-colour; the legs and 

 thighs, which are naked, are greenish-yellow, the 

 middle claw pectinated ; the whole of the under 

 parts are pure white ; the plumage of the male and 

 female is alike, both being crested. 



The tropical parts of America, New Holland, and 

 the Eastern Islands, possess various species of herons, 

 of which, generally speaking, the manners are but 

 little known. Some of these appear to belong to the 

 family of the true herons, and others more resemble 

 the bitterns in some particulars. Of these, the Aganii 

 heron of the north parts of South America is a very 

 .splendid bird. The upper parts are bluish ash ; the 

 head and crest, which consists of very long feathers, 

 are black ; the nape and upper part of the neck 

 bluish, the under parts and under tail-coverts russet 

 brown, the bill black ; the feet yellow, the rump fur- 

 nished with long floating feathers of a dull blue colour; 

 the belly spotted with white, the length about two 

 feet and a half. It would, however, be impossible to 

 enter into anything like a popular account of those 

 tropical herons, both on account of the number of 

 the species and from our ignorance of their manners. 

 But there are still one or two deserving of notice, 

 which migrate into the more temperate latitudes 

 during the summer. 



THE BLUE HEUON (A. carulea). There are blue 

 herons in different parts of the world ; and some are 

 met with as distant as New Zealand ; but the one 

 with which we are best acquainted is an American 

 species, resident in the tropical parts during the win- 



ter, but migrating into the warmer and more southerly 

 portion of the United States during the summer. It 

 belongs to that division of the herons which have a 

 slight resemblance to the bitterns. It is much less 

 powerfully winged than some of the others. Its 

 length nearly two feet, and the stretch of its wings 

 about three. The bill black, with a bright purple 

 streak extending from the nostril to the eyes ; irides 

 grey, with a narrow ring of a silvery colour round 

 the pupil. The head and greater part of the neck 

 deep purple brown ; the crest-feathers narrow and 

 pointed, and about six inches in length. The lower 

 neck and the body generally of a deep slate blue 

 with reflections of lighter colour. The back furnished 

 with long, flat, and narrow feathers, some of them ten 

 inches long, and reaching four inches beyond the 

 tail ; and there is a tuft of similar feathers on the fore 

 neck or upper part of the breast. The legs are blackish 

 green, and the claw on the middle toe is toothed like 

 a comb on its inner edge. The breast, sides of the 

 rump, and some other of the under parts, are furnished 

 with a close cottony down below the proper feathers. 

 The sexes are exactly alike in their general appear- 

 ance ; but the young birds are different. Though 

 differing much in colour, this species appears to hold 

 nearly the same place on the western continent as 

 the squacco herons do on the eastern. When they 

 retire at the approach of winter, they pass into 

 Mexico, and all the intermediate parts; and in their 

 southern rambles they probably reach the plains 

 of Paraguay during the rainy season. In the extreme 

 north of the United States they are rare ; and in 

 the middle States they are partial to the brackish 

 water and the salt springs. They are tree breeders, 

 and nestle in the tops of cedars, in the swamps, 

 along with the night herons. The nests are con- 

 structed of small sticks, and the eergs average about 

 four and are of a pale blue colour. 



YELLOW-NECKED HEKON (A. violncca). This is 

 another of the American migrants, coining northward 

 in the summer, and returning southward in the win- 

 ter. It is rather a more southerly inhabitant than 

 the one last mentioned, and is seldom met with farther 

 north than the Carolinas, and even there it is not 

 numerous, or much soen in proportion to its numbers, 

 being a very shy and retiring bird. When we speak 

 of the limits of a bird's migration in such a country as 

 America, we must be understood as speaking of those 

 places only to which the bird comes every year, and 

 comes in considerable numbers ; for among the rarer 

 migrants of Britain, we occasionally find a pair strag- 

 gling over to breed, while there is no regular summer 

 residence of the birds within several hundred miles ; 

 and in North America, where there is no sea to inter- 

 rupt migration, or cause a marked change of country 

 upon the one shore and the other, the range of migra- 

 tion not only naturally but necessarily varies with the 

 range of the seasons. If the season is backward and 

 cold, the range will thereby be checked ; and if, on 

 the other hand, it is forward and warm, the range 

 may be extended, in the case of a few of the birds at 

 least, to a very considerable distance beyond the 

 average. Hence this species of heron, though un- 

 questionably rather a southern one, is occasionally 

 found breeding in Virginia, and perhaps even farther 

 to the north ; and in those northerly parts the young 

 birds are eagerly sought after, being highly esteemed 

 as food. This bird is common in many parts of the 

 West India islands, and great numbers are said to 



