CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 139 
LXXIV. ARDEA Linn. 1758 
194. Great Blue Heron. 
Ardea herodias LINN. 1758. 
Breeds in colonies in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward 
Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British 
Columbia. 
Richardson says that it is only accidental in the Northwest Terri- 
tories and it seems to be rare in Alaska but likely breeds along the 
Yukon or its branches. Grinnell records it as frequent along the 
secluded inland shores at Sitka, Alaska. 
BREEDING Notes.—Downs reports a large heronry on Mount 
Uniake, Nova Scotia, in the tops of birch trees. A few breed near 
Rustico in Prince Edward Island. There is a large heronry on the 
Quebec side of the Ottawa twenty-five miles below the city of Ottawa- 
Mr. Seton in his Birds of Manitoba, mentions the discovery of a 
heronry on Riding mountain in Manitoba, at the head of Bird Tail 
creek, in the summer of 1880, and the writer, in June 1894, saw a 
a small one on Skull creek, Sask., a small brook that descends from 
the Cypress hills. 
The following description of the heronry on the Ottawa is taken 
from MclIlwraith’s Birds of Ontario, page 110: 
“The heronry is located in the centre of a thick swamp which, 
on the occasion of our first visit, was so deeply submerged as to 
bar all ingress. On the 19th July, however, the water was but 
knee-deep. After proceeding about half a mile into the swamp, 
our attention was arrested by a pecultar sound which we at first 
thought proceeded from some distant saw-mill or steamer on the 
river. As we advanced, however, the sound resolved itself into the 
most extraordinary noises, some of which resembled the yelping 
of dogs or foxes. On penetrating still deeper into the swamp, 
we discovered that the noises proceeded from an immense number 
of herons, some perched on branches of trees, some sitting on nests, 
and others flying overhead. The uproar was almost deafening and 
the odour arising from the filth with which the trees and ground 
were covered was extremely disagreeable. We tramped all through 
the heronry and calculated that it must extend about half a mile 
