310 Bird -Lore 



To find most of their breeding colonies one must search inland. In May, 

 192 1, the writer visited twenty-one colonies of Herons, all situated in a small 

 group of counties lying almost exactly in the center of the northern part of 

 the Peninsula of Florida. These were the counties of Alachua, Marion, Putnam, 

 Clay and Lake. I once visited a populous breeding community near Red 

 Springs, Robeson Co., N. C, 75 miles in a direct line from the coast. For 

 thirty years at least, Little Blue Herons have gathered annually in a breeding 

 place on the Orton Plantation, Brunswick Co., N. C. This is about 15 

 miles inland. I have found them breeding elsewhere in North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana, but invariably some little 

 distance back from the coast. In the Heron colonies of the coastal country of 

 Texas, the Little Blue Heron has not been found during recent trips to the 

 region. Dr. E. W. Nelson has written that there is a colony in 'southeastern 

 Missouri,' and W. D. Howser, a few years ago, reported a breeding place on 

 Reelfoot Lake, Tenn. 



General Notes. — This species inhabits much of the extensive marshlands 

 in our Southland. When traveling through the pine barrens of our South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States, one will often come upon shallow ponds or small 

 lakes whose margins and shallow reaches are more or less grown over with 

 various water plants and scattered bushes; farther out the leaves of the water 

 lilies are usually much in evidence. About the pond the bare grasslands, or 

 prairies, extend from 100 feet to many hundreds of yards. Here is the natural 

 and favorite feeding ground of the Little Blue Heron. Singly, or in small flocks, 

 they may be seen wading slowly along in the shallow water or standing sta- 

 tionary with heads erect, watching the intruder from a distance. 



Their food consists of water insects, frogs, and especially minnows that 

 swarm in such regions. Sometimes these lakes contain islands covered with 

 buttonwood or willow bushes, and these frequently are chosen as nesting sites 

 for various Herons of the neighborhood. Other favorite breeding places of 

 the Little Blue Heron are the small ponds in dense hammock lands that sur- 

 round many of the lakes. Here, in the heavy semi-tropical forests, one may 

 find quiet little ponds thickly grown with bushes, and such places the 

 Herons love. 



Their nests are composed of coarse sticks, with usually a slight depression 

 at the top, and lined with finer twigs. One may find them situated all the 

 way from 4 to 15 feet above the water — rarely higher than this. They are 

 very sociable in their nesting habits, and the cradles with eggs may often be 

 found within two or three feet of one another. Several species of Herons usually 

 assemble in a nesting colony, and sometimes one may find a number of Water 

 Turkeys also associated with them. Little Blue Herons are known to breed 

 in the 'immature' or white phase of plumage, and in most southern heronries 

 some of them will be seen in attendance on their young. Near Levy Lake, 

 Fla., I once found a heronry composed entirely of white Little Blue Herons. 



