XXI 



LITTLE BLUE HERON ; LITTLE WHITE HERON 

 200. Ardea caerulea (Linn.) 



This Heron is about twenty-four inches long and is 

 of a general slate-bluish color, with a maroon-colored 

 neck and head. The basal half of its upper bill is of a 

 greenish black and the lower mandible is yellow. The 

 nest is composed of sticks and a few leaves placed ten or 

 more feet from the ground, frequently on limbs of the 

 mangrove, overhanging the water. The Little Blue 

 Heron lays four bluish-green eggs and breeds in vast 

 numbers along with other Herons. In some instances it 

 retains the juvenile white plumage up to or through the 

 first breeding period, but there is no excuse for confusing 

 it with the beautiful Snowy Heron. The general contour 

 is different and the individual plumage does not look like 

 that of the other Heron, except in general color ; the ac- 

 tions about the nest are very different, and the color of 

 the feet and bill of the two birds does not correspond. 

 It is only necessary to come into close contact with both 

 to differentiate, while the Little Blue Heron is in its 

 juvenile white phase. 



The Little Blue Heron is more restricted in its breed- 

 ing range than the Great Blue Heron and is a diurnal 

 feeder, roosting with large flocks of its kind and feeding 

 near the shore of small lakes or shallow sloughs, being 

 a patient fisher, but not so accurate as the Snowy Heron. 



Near a rookery in Florida I witnessed a Little Blue 

 building its nest of fine twigs, gathered from a burned- 

 over area. Each twig was carefully selected from the 

 dead limbs of the same bush, and was broken off and 

 carried to the nest. The trips were made on an average 

 of every seven minutes and the nest was completed and 

 contained one egg at the end of forty-eight hours. (Fig. 

 33.) 



The feeding note of these birds as they approach the 

 nest is much like that of a guinea fowl; the fighting, or 



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