BLUE CRANE, OR HEROX. 45 



208. ARDEA CEIIUL3ZA, LINN^US AND WILSON. 



BLUE CRANE, OR HERON. 

 WILSON, PLATE LXII. FIG. III. EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 



IN mentioning this species in his translation of the 

 Systcma Naturce, Turton has introduced what he calls 

 two varieties, one from New Zealand, the other from 

 Brazil; hoth of which, if we may judge by their size 

 and colour, appear to be entirely different and distinct 

 species; the Hrst being 1 green, with yellow legs, the 

 last nearly one half less than the present. By this 

 loose mode of discrimination, the precision of science 

 being altogether dispensed with, the whole tribe of 

 cranes, herons, and bitterns, may be styled mere varieties 

 of the genus ardea. The same writer has still farther 

 increased this confusion, by designating as a different 

 species his bluish heron, {A. ccerulescens,) which agrees 

 almost exactly with the present. Some of these mis- 

 takes may probably have originated from the figure of 

 this bird given by Catesby, which appears to have been 

 drawn and coloured, not from nature, but from the 

 glimmering recollections of memory, and is extremely 

 erroneous. These remarks are due to truth, and neces- 

 sary to the elucidation of the history of this species, 

 which seems to be but imperfectly known in Europe. 



The blue heron is properly a native of the warmer 

 climates of the United States, migrating from thence, 

 at the approach of winter, to the tropical regions, 

 being found in Cayenne, Jamaica, and Mexico. On the 

 muddy shores of the Mississippi, from Baton Rouge 

 downwards to New Orleans, these birds are frequently 

 met with. In spring they extend their migrations as 

 far north as New England, chiefly in the vicinity of 

 the sea, becoming more rare as they advance to the 

 north. On the sea beach of Cape May, I found a few 

 of them breeding among the cedars, in company with 

 the snowy heron, night heron, and green bittern. The 

 description of the present was taken from two of these, 



