450 THE GREAT BLUE HERON. 



THE GREAT BLUE HERON. 



In the late dusk of evening, we are sure to see a pair of 

 Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) pass up the river, 

 but a few rods out, and alight in the shallow margin of the 

 river just above our tent, thus affording a good view of a 

 very shy bird. They present an odd figure, as with enor- 

 mous spread of wings, legs dangling far out behind, and 

 neck extended, they fly just above the surface, hanking 

 somewhat after the manner of Wild Geese. Sometimes 

 they may be seen on this same spot in the clear light of 

 early morning, wading about and seizing and swallowing 

 their prey, apparently without the least circumspection; 

 sometimes standing at ease on one leg, the other being 

 drawn up, and the long neck folded closely on the breast, 

 while the eye gazes intently into the water. Quick as 

 thought the attitude is changed. The body is thrown forward 

 and the neck extended, while the head darts into the water; 

 the ill-fated fish which he brings up, impaled on his long, 

 pointed mandibles, disappears down his capacious gullet 

 with a few jerks of the head. How graceful is every atti- 

 tude and motion of this gigantic bird. And yet, when slain, 

 how ungainly he appears. Some 4 feet and several inches from 

 the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, and a foot longer 

 from the tip of the bill to the ends of the toes, the general 

 color is a delicate bluish-ash, the neck slightly tinged with 

 brown, and having a spotted or streaked throat-line adown 

 the front; the long, slender, almost thread-like, scapulars 

 and lower feathers of the neck, white; plumes of the head, 

 of which two, in the mature state, are long and filiform, 

 black; crown and throat, white; thighs and wing-shoulders, 

 brown; under parts, black, streaked with white; eyes and 

 bill, yellow. Male and female are alike, except that 

 the latter is smaller. The young are similar, lacking 



