228 ZOOLOGY. 



flocks in April, and then dispersing in pairs over the interior prairies to build their nests, 

 which are placed among the tall fern on the highest and most open ground, where they can 

 see the approach of danger. They frequent, at this season, the mountains to the height of 

 6,000 feet above the sea. The young are often raised from the nest by the Indians for 

 food.— C. 



Family ARDEIDAE. The Herons. 

 ARDEA HERODIAS, Linnaeus. 



Great Blue Herou. or Crane. 



Ardea AerodiM, Linn. Syst. Nat 1, 17G6, 237, No. 15.— Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 18U, 28; pi. Ixv.— Bon. Obs. 1825, 

 No. 188.— NuTT. Man. U, 1834, 42.— Acd. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 87 ; V, 599 ; pi. 211.— Ib. 8yn. 

 1839.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 122 ; pi. 369.— Bp. Confip. II, 1855, 112.— Baird, Gen. Kep. 

 Birds, 1858, GG8. 



Large crested heron, Catesbt, Car. App. pi. x. 



Sp. Ch. — Lower tliird of tibia bare. Above bluish ash: edges of wing and the tibia rufous. Neck cinnamon brown. Head 

 black, with a white frontal patch. Body beneath black, broadly streaked on the belly with white. Crissum white. Middle 

 line of throat white, streaked with bl.ack .and rufous. Length, 42 inches; wing, 18.50; tarsus about 6.50 ; bill about 5.50. 



Hah. — 7'hroughout the entire territory of the United States ; West Indies. 



This heron is quite abundant at Puget Sound, where it is called by the Nisqually Indians 

 "sbuck-ah," and likewise has applied to it the nickname of "tsah-pah," or "our grand- 

 father," probably owing to the grave dignity with which the creature struts about on the 

 shores of its favorite feeding grounds. The Indians above mentioned have an amusing 

 tradition concerning this bird, according to which it appears that he formerly was an Indian, 

 who having quarreled with his wife, (the present Podiceps cornuius,) they were both trans- 

 formed by a superior power, the man becoming a heron, the woman a dabchick. The latter 

 was a terrible strumpet, and seems to have been especially punished for her manifold sins by 

 DohveehoUle, the Nisqually Jupiter. — S. 



The great blue heron is abundant throughout the year near the coast, and near the mouth of 

 the Columbia I have seen flocks of two hundred in August, which had congregated to devour 

 the herring, common at that season. They build also in high trees near the same place. — C. 



BOTAURUS LENTIGINOSUS, (Montagu,)Stephens. 



Bittern ; Stake-di-iver. 



Ardea lentigtnosa, Montagu, Orn. Diet. Suppl. 1813. — Jenyns, Man. 191 — Aud. Syn. 1839, 262. — ^Ib. Birds Amer_ 



VI, 1843, 94 ; pi. 365— Sw. F. Bor. Am. 11, 1831, 374. 

 Botaurivs lentiginostis, Steph, Shaw's Gen. Zool. XI, 1819, 596. — Baied, Gen. Eep. Birds, 674. 

 Ardea (Botaurus) lenliginosa, Nutt. Man. II, 1834, 60. 

 Ardea minor, Wilson, Am. Cm. VIII, 1814, 35 ; pi. Ixv.— Bon. Obs. 1825, 186.— Ann. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 296 



pi. 337. 

 Botaurus minor, Bonap. List, 1838.— Ib. Consp. II, 1855, 136.— Gundlacii, Cab. Journ. IV, 1856, 346. 



Sp. Ch. — Brownish yellow, finely mottled and varied with dark bro^v^I and brownish red. A broad black stripe on each 

 side the neck, starting behind the ear. Length, 26. 50 ; wing, 11. 00 ; tjirsus, 3. 60 ; bill above, 2. 75. 

 Uab. — Entire continent of North America. 



Rather widely distributed. One specimen obtained in the Rocky mountains at Fort Owen, 



