370 Field Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Vol. IX. 



(Jciius FLORIDA Baiicl. 



86. Florida caerulea (Linn.). 



Little Blue Heron. 



Ardea ccerulea Linn., A. O. U. Check List, 1895, p. 73. 



Distr.: Eastern United States, from New Jersey, Illinois, and Kan- 

 sas, southward through Mexico and Central America to northern 

 South America, also West Indies; accidental as far north as Maine 

 and Wisconsin. 



Adult: Head and neck, purplish red or maroon, rest of plumage, 

 grayish blue; bill, black at the end; basal portion and loral space, 

 blue; legs and feet, black. 



Little Blue ileron. 



Immature birds are pure white, except a faint wash of grayish 

 blue near the tips of the primaries; legs, olive or yellowish, and the 

 basal half of the bill, greenish. 



Young birds of this species are sometimes confounded with the 

 Snowy Egret, but may easily be distinguished from that species by 

 the slight wash of blue on the ends of the primaries and by the color 

 of the legs and bill. 



Length, about 23; wing, 11; tarsus, 3.60. 



The Little Blue Heron is not uncommon in late summer in southern 

 Illinois. Accidental stragglers have also been taken in Wisconsin. 

 "A common bird during the latter part of summer, particularly dur- 

 ing August, when (in 1875) Mr. E. W. Nelson found it exceedingly 

 abundant near Cairo. Considerable numbers make their appearance 

 along the Wabash River, at least as far north as Mt. Carmel and 

 doubtless it occurs generally throughout the state." (Ridgway, 



