Vol. I. 



SEPTEMBER, 1889. 



No. 9. 



For the Loon. 



u Soiaie Heron Notes." 



Prominent among the various species of herons that in- 

 habit Florida is the Great Blue or Silver Heron, as the "na- 

 tives" call it. This large heron is found throughout the en- 

 tire State. I have even noticed them on the outside beach 

 picking up the fish brought in by the surf. But they are 

 most abundant in the shallow bayous and marshes along 

 the coast and in the numerous lakes that dot the interior. 



The heron is a very handsome bird, and in the spring is 

 covered with beautiful plumage, and of course is destroyed 

 by " plume" hunters. According to some of these hunters 

 they commence to lay in February, but I have never found 

 any eggs earlier than March. On the coast they build on 

 low mangrove keys, and usually six or more nests are in one 

 herony. The nests are generally made of dry sticks and 

 green mangrove branches — generally a large, inartistic plat- 

 form slightly hollowed and covered with excrement. In 

 this the bird deposits from two to six greenish-blue eggs, 



