WADING BIRDS 101 



BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON 



The Black -crowned Xight Heron, or " Quawk," breeds 

 chiefly in the United States ; it also breeds in southern Can- 

 ada from New Brunswick to British Columbia, wintering 

 from the Gulf States to South America. 



This bird might more properly be called the bridled 

 heron, as the males have two feathers, four to eight inches 

 long and scarcely one-tenth of an inch in breadth, attached 

 to the back of the neck. The name " black-cro^vmed " is 

 derived from the steel blue feathers on the head. 



These birds are gregarious and move about both by day 

 and night. As the sun is setting they may be heard giving 

 their noisy cries, from which come the name " Quawk," 

 while moving slowly, v.'ith deliberate wing-beats, in single 

 file like troops. 



Black-crowiied night herons, like other night herons, 

 remain hidden by day in some secluded piece of timber 

 preening their feathers. Herons are wading birds, but are 

 not very active, and seem contented in dry territory after 

 satisfying their appetites with food, principally aquatic ani- 

 mals. Having favorite feeding-grounds, they often travel 

 twenty or tliirty miles to feed in the same marsh. 



A bird lover discovered a heronry of these birds in a 

 growth of coniferous trees in Kankakee County, Illinois. 

 The nests were placed so close together that it Avas pos- 

 sible to inspect the contents of twenty-seven nests without 

 descending to the ground, some trees containing as many as 

 fifteen nests. 



