THE HERONS. 593 



The Black Buz-zard of the south (Cathartes atratus), 

 some 26 inches long and 58 in extent, is brownish-black, 

 lighter on the wings. It has a slight nest on the ground, 

 the eggs, 1 or 2, being creamy-white, heavily marked with 



brown. 



KIRTLAND'S WARBLER. 



I never met Kirtland's Warbler, but some of the most 

 valuable of my first ornithological instructions were given 

 privately and informally by Dr. Kirtland, so that it is very 

 proper to note here his interesting discovery of this bird 

 (Dendr&ca kirtlandi), shot near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1851. 

 Since that time, five more of the same species have been 

 taken in Ohio; two at Ann Arbor, Mich.; and one on the 

 Bahama Islands, near which, at sea, the first specimen of the 

 kind had been found, some ten years before Dr. Kirtland 

 identified and described it. 



This large Warbler, some 5.50 in length, and quite robust 

 in form, is bluish-ash above, " narrowly streaked on crown, 

 and more broadly on back, with black; forehead, lores and 

 space beneath eye, black; eye-lids, two narrow bands across 

 wings, and patch on inner webs of two outer tail-feathers, 

 white; under parts, clear yellow, becoming nearly white on 

 under tail-coverts, with spots in band across breast, and 

 streaks on sides, black. * * * Female similar, but much 

 paler beneath, slightly over-washed above with reddish, 

 and the dark markings are much more restricted." The 

 color and markings of this species are every way similar 

 to those of the Canada Warbler, but the form is not 

 that of a Flycatching Warbler, but of a Dendrceca. 



THE HERONS. 



Strongly characterized among birds are the Herons and 

 their relatives. They are at once the giants and the fisher- 



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