734 



HERO N. 



breed in the Bahamas, and to feed on the fry of fishes 

 and mollusca and small Crustacea, which, in conse- 

 quence of the currents of the sea there, are remark- 

 ably plentiful in the eddies of shallow water, in the 

 creeks, and on the banks. It appears indeed that 

 this species is more partial to the sea-coast, and feeds 

 more on Crustacea, especially on the smaller kinds 

 of crabs, than any other heron of the western con- 

 tinent. 



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

 tail-feathers, is about one foot ten inches, but the 

 flowing plumes extend about four inches farther ; the 

 stretch of the wings is about two feet ten inches ; 

 the bill is about four inches in length, of a black 

 colour, very stout, and having the upper mandible 

 with grooves, like the bill of the night heron ; the 

 naked skin from the gape to the eyes is pale green, 

 the irides flame colour, and the legs and feet yellow, 

 with the middle claw toothed ; the upper part of the 

 head is white, and the crest is pure white and termi- 

 nates in two narrow tapering feathers more than half 

 a foot in length, and under these feathers there are a 

 few moldings of black. All the rest of the neck and 

 the lower parts of the body are bright ash-colour, a 

 little paler at the junction of the neck ; the upper 

 parts are dark ash, each leather with a white border 

 and a black line down the centre ; the quills of the 

 wings slate blue with white edges, and the coverts 

 the same colour but with pale buff borders. From 

 the scapulars arise the produced feathers, which have 

 long and tapering stems, and very loose and floccu- 

 Jent webs ; they are ash-coloured with a broad streak 

 of black down the middle ; the sides of the head and 

 upper part of the neck are black marked with a white 

 spot on each side. 



THE NIGHT HERON (A. nycticorax). This species, 

 which is in some of its characters intermediate be- 

 tween the herons and the bitterns, but which appears 

 to resemble the herons more in its manners, has been 

 arranged and described as a separate genus ; but 

 though extreme scientific nicety may justify those 

 very minute generic distinctions, it does not appear 

 that they can contribute very much to any useful 

 popular purpose ; and therefore, to prevent repetition, 

 and also to enable the reader to judge better of the 

 distinctions between it and the typical herons, we 

 introduce it here. 



The night heron, or at all events a night heron, 

 is found both on the eastern continent and on the 

 western ; and their manners, which is really the im- 

 portant part of the history of any bird, appear to be 

 50 much alike that they may be considered as the 

 same species ; and not more different from each other, 

 even from the effects of climate, than some of those 

 other species to which we have already alluded. 

 They get the name Nycticorax, or night croaker, from 

 the loud and disagreeable noise which they make 

 during the night. In America they are vulgarly called 

 Qua-birds, because the noise which they make has 

 some slight resemblance to the sound of that syllable 

 when pronounced in a manner as harsh and guttural 

 as possible. 



This bird, of which the new scientific name is Nyc- 

 ticorax gardeni, is very common in all the extensive 

 swamps of both continents. In Britain they do not 

 breed, and therefore we have no opportunity of ob- 

 serving the places of the nests, or the habits of the 

 birds in their breeding quarters. Temminck says 

 that it nestles on the ground in bushes, and very 



rarely in tufts of rushes, aud lays three or four eggs 

 of a dull green. But Temminck is not always to be 

 trusted with regard to the places in which birds breed, 

 and consequently not more so with regard to the 

 mode of placing their nests, however accurate he may 

 be in the descriptions of the birds themselves. Wil- 

 son, on the other hand, says, that in America they 

 build in trees ; and assemble in greater numbers in 

 the same breeding-place than even the common 

 heron. His account of their manners is unquestion- 

 ably the best, not only in point of correctness, as 

 being obtained from his own observation, but as it 

 combines the whole manners of the bird in one very 

 well-drawn picture. We shall therefore quote his 

 description, and then offer a remark or two on some 

 differences which have been observed in the nestinir- 

 places of birds belonging to the same, or at all events 

 to very nearly allied species on the eastern continent 

 and in America. 



" The night heron," says Wilson, " arrives in Penn- 

 sylvania early in April, and immediately takes pos- 

 session of his former breeding-place, which is usually 

 the most solitary and deeply shaded part of a cedar 

 swamp. Groves of swamp oak, in retired and inun- 

 dated places, are also sometimes chosen, and the 

 males not unfrequently select tall woods, on the banks 

 of the river, to roost in during the day. These last 

 regularly direct their course, about the beginning of 

 evening twilight, towards the marshes, uttering in a 

 hoarse and hollow tone the sound qua, which by some 

 has been compared to that produced by the retchings 

 of a person attempting to vomit. At this hour also 

 all the nurseries in the swamps are emptied of their 

 inhabitants, who disperse about the marshes, and 

 along the ditches and river shore, in quest of food. 

 Some of these breeding-places have been occupied 

 every spring and summer from time immemorial by 

 from eighty to one hundred pair of qua-birds. In 

 places where the cedars have been cut down for sale, 

 the birds have merely removed to another quarter of 

 the swamp ; but when personally attacked, long teased, 

 and plundered, they have been known to remove from 

 an ancient breeding place in a body, no one knew 

 where. Such was the case with one on the Delaware, 

 near Thompson's Point, ten or twelve miles below 

 Philadelphia ; which, having been repeatedly attacked 

 and plundered by a body of crows, after many severe 

 rencontres, the herons finally abandoned the place. 

 Several of these breeding-places occur among the red 

 cedars on the sea beach of Cape May, intermixed 

 with those of the little egret, green bittern, and blue 

 heron. The nests are built entirely of sticks in con- 

 siderable quantities, with frequently three or four 

 nests on the same tree. The eggs are generally four 

 in number, measuring two inches and a quarter in 

 length, by one and three quarters in thickness, and of 

 a very pale light blue colour. The ground or marsh 

 below is bespattered with their excrements, lying all 

 around like whitewash, with feathers, broken egg- 

 shells, old nests, and frequently small fish, which they 

 have dropt by accident, and neglected to pick up. 

 On entering the swamp in the neighbourhood of one 

 of these breeding-places, the noise of the old and the 

 young would almost induce one to suppose that two 

 or three hundred Indians were choking or throttling 

 each other. The instant an intruder is discovered, 

 the whole rise in the air in silence, and remove to the 

 tops of the trees in another part of the woods, while 

 parties of from eight to ten make occasional circuits 



