GREEN HERON. 49 



riean species has, invariably, twelve. The intestines 

 measured five feet six inches in length, and were 

 very little thicker than a common knitting needle ; the 

 stomach is usually tilled with fish or frogs. 



This bird, when fat, is considered by many to be 

 excellent eating. 



210. ARDEA riRESCEXS, LINN. AND WILSON. GREEN HERON. 

 WILSON, PLATE LXI. FIG. I EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 



THIS common and familiar species owes little to the 

 liberality of public opinion, whose prejudices have 

 stigmatized it with a very vulgar and indelicate nick- 

 name ; and treat it, on all occasions, as worthless and 

 contemptible. Yet few birds are more independent of 

 man than this ; for it fares best, and is always most 

 numerous, where cultivation is least known or attended 

 to ; its favourite residence being the watery solitudes 

 of swamps, pools, and morasses, where millions of frogs 

 and lizards " tune their nocturnal notes" in full chorus, 

 undisturbed by the lords of creation. 



The green bittern makes its first appearance in 

 Pennsylvania early in April, soon after the marshes are 

 completely thawed. There, among the stagnant ditches 

 with which they are intersected, and amidst the bogs 

 and quagmires, he hunts with great cunning and 

 dexterity. Frogs and small fish are his principal game, 

 whose caution, and facility of escape, require nice 

 address, and rapidity of attack. When on the look-out 

 for small fish, he stands in the water, by the side of the 

 ditch, silent and motionless as a statue ; his neck drawn 

 in over his breast, ready for action. The instant a fry 

 or minnow comes within the range of his bill, by a 

 stroke, quick and sure as that of the rattlesnake, he 

 seizes his prey, and swallows it in an instant. He 

 searches for small crabs, and for the various worms and 

 larvae, particularly those of the dragon fly, which lurk 

 in the mud, with equal adroitness. But the capturing 

 of frogs requires much nicer management. These wary 



VOL. III. D 



