GREAT BLUE HERON, 91 
renders Herons conspicuous, and, though worthless as 
food, few so-called sportsmen can resist the temptation 
of shooting at them when opportunity offers. Several 
of the Southern species, notably the Snowy Heron and 
White Egret, are adorned during the nesting season with 
the beautiful “ aigrette” plumes which are apparently so 
necessary a part of woman’s headgear that they will go 
out of fashion only when the birds go out of existence. 
One can not blame the plume hunters, who are generally 
poor men, for killing birds whose plumes are worth more 
than their weight in gold—the blame lies in another 
quarter. But I have no words with which to express 
my condemnation of the man who kills one of these 
birds wantonly. 
The presence of a stately Great Blue Heron or 
“Crane” adds an element to the landscape which no 
Great Biue Heron, Work of man can equal. Its grace of 
Ardea herodiaz, form and motion, emphasized by its 
Fite VL large size, is a constant delight to the 
eye; it is a symbol of the wild in Nature; one never 
tires of watching it. What punishment, then, is severe 
enough for the man who robs his fellows of so pure 
a source of enjoyment? A rifle ball turns this noble 
creature into a useless mass of flesh and feathers; the 
loss is irreparable. Still, we have no law to prevent it. 
Herons are said to devour large numbers of small fish. 
But is not the laborer worthy of his hire? Are the fish 
more valuable than this, one of the grandest of birds ? 
The Great Blue Heron breeds throughout North 
America, but there are now only a few localities in the 
northeastern States where it may be found nesting. We 
usually see it, therefore, as a migrant in April and May, 
and from August to November. 
The Little Green Heron is the smallest, as the Great 
Blue Heron is the largest, of our Herons. Its small 
