AKDKIU.K - THK HERON'S - AHDKA, 



^" "^ ^''"'''1' Hporii's. Four rciidii'd Cliuilt-ston iilivi-, and wi'it- kept hoiiic tiino by Pr. Baohmaii, 



" "'aklirii ^^''- <^''''''^''^' '""I '^''- ^Vilsuii. Tht's;- provi'd to Ik- troublcsomo pets, devouring bucdi 



I'muly bttii quantitifs of ti.sli that it was difficult to provide for them. They woidd strike at 

 and kill ehiekeiis, ducks, and grown fowl, and in one instance stallted throu},'h and 

 pinned to the wooden steps of the veranda a sleeping cat. They even pursued 



tricted to and threatened the children; and it bfcanie necessary to ilestroy them, 



lit Indian Dr. Hryant met with this Heron in Florida in only two places. One of tliese was 



that time. on the headwaters of the St. Sebastian, where it was breeding in comi)any with the 



rise when Wood Ibis; the other was on a small island in Lake Jessup, without any other 



I approacli birds. The attachment of this sju'cies to its i)reeding-place was strikingly shown 



iMit on the at this island. About a month before Dr. Jtryant's visit a dense tangled growth 



anywhere of coarse marsh grasses and bushes, with which it was covered, had been acci- 



■H seen in dentally set on fire, and numy of the birds and the majority of the nests destroyed. 



i early in At the time of his visit the latter had been rebuilt, and the birds were again sit- 



iiests well' ting on their eggs. In the few nests which had not been destroyed, and in most 



•ere found instances had been blackened by the tire, the young were already hatched and nearly 

 nark were ^ l''i't gi'own. He found it breeding on many of the Keys. Two nests were rarely 



my liniu". 8''*'" "^''i'" ''^'"1^ other, and oidy in one instance <lid he find two within twenty feet of 



sted about one another. They did not seem to object to the company of other species, as he 



their le^'s found one on the same bush with a nest of a (ireat IJlue Heron; and at Sandy Key, 



ihowed m> '''''''' ^'^>*~' ^able, he found several jtairs breeding on tlie cacti, whii'h were growing 



■ven those amidst trees covered with the nests of the Louisiana Heron. He never .saw more 



described *'•'"' ^^'t* "i" ^^^ individuals feeding near each other, and regarded it as much more 



mness and solitary than the hfroi/liKi, as the latter is than other species, and as by far the wildest 



undred or ^'''^1 "^ '^** genus with which he was acciuainted. As he found many of its young 



Ibars at ii nearly fledged by the L'Oth of April, and as at that time none at the Keys were less 



, i,.^ijits [IS than half grown, and all older than the young of the herodius, he thinks it must com- 



iless wait- nience laying by the 1st of February. 



I' or when According to Mr. March, this species occurs occasionally in Jamaica, but is rare 



n"-trrounil ^^ *'''^* island. It may always be readily recognized by its superior size, the absence 



ler bein" ^^ occipital plumes, and by the lengthened feathers of the back of the head. It is 



/hen sur- regarded as a straggler. Mr. Audubon states that the eggs are always three in num- 



to a great ^*^''' "I'^'i'*"!'^ two and three quarters inches in length, and one and two thirds inches 



■atlv pro- *" breadth, and have a rather thick shell of a uniform plain light bluish-green color. 



ter it has -^'^ ^^'o "' "'^ collection (No. L'8.")) collected by Mr. Audubon in 18,'{L', is of a slightly 



j^ jjj„]j i,, oblong oval shape, and nearly ecpially rounded at either end. Its color is somewhat 



min" this faded, but seems to have been a light wash of Prussian blue mingled with rather 



more than the usual proportion of green than in most of the eggs of the Heron fani- 



alive witli *^'^' ^^ nieasures li.To inches in length, and LOO inches in breadth, having the same 



cilled and length, but a greater breadth, than in the measurements given by Mr. Audubon. 



coon witli '^'^'^ ^^"*^ known us A. Wiifthnnanni, which Mr. Kidgway regards as merely the 



separated. colored phase of this species, is even more rare than the white form called occidcn- 



rt'ith their '"''"*'• ^^^ habits may be safely presumed to be not essentially different from those 



thrown to °* either of these two species. So far as known, its residence seems to be confined 



V towards *° Southern Florida and to the AVest India Islands. It is enumerated by Mr. March 



of other ^^ ""^ '^^ *^"^ ^'""^^"'^ "* Jamaica, where the fishermen and the gunners on the coast 



regard it as the male of the hevodlus in its summer plumage. Mr. March's obser- 



b. 5^ i878)_ vations led him to the conclusion that the two are entirely distinct species. Eggs 



lary, 1882), ^^^ this species collected by Mr. Maynard in Southern Florida are more rounded than 



^the eggs of most of the Heron family, and have the same uniform color of light 



;S VOL. I. — 2 



