Plate XXVII. 



ARDEA VIRESGENS-Gmn Heron. 



The Grreen Heron, or Fly-iip-the-creek, arrives the h^st week in April, though stragglers are oc- 

 casionally seen a week or two earlier. Early in May the nest is constructed. But one brood is reared 

 by a single pair during the season. 



LOCALITT: 



Trees and bushes in damp tracts of land, and on the banks of creeks and ponds, are the most fre- 

 quented sites for the nest. But as good fishing streams and ponds do not always offer in their immediate 

 vicinity suitable places to build, rather than abandon them, the birds will nest in the nearest trees or 

 bushes that will answer their purpose. On this account nests are frequently found a mile or more from 

 any Avater. It is by no means uncommon to find an old orchard occupied by the nests of a colony of 

 these Herons, though it is considerable distance from their feeding grounds. They seem to have a natural 

 liking for old apple-trees, and consequently, will often go out of their way to build in them, perhaps, 

 because their size and shape afford suitable situations in their tops, at no great distance from the ground. 

 Stunted wild cherry-trees, alder bushes, and dwarfed trees of various kinds, together with apple-trees, are 

 the ones usually selected for the nest. 



POSITIOiT : 



The nest requires, on account of the materials of which it is composed, a rather wide and firm base 

 for its support. This is generally secured among an irregular mass of branches, but sometimes it is 

 saddled upon a horizontal limb which has branches growing out from each side; and sometimes it is 

 placed at the bifurcation of a horizontal limb. There is, however, no position constant enough to be 

 characteristic. Its distance from the ground is never very great; sometimes as little as two feet; but, 

 ordinarily, it is between six and twenty feet. 



MATERIALS : 



All the nests which I have seen have been composed entirely of slender dead twigs from trees or 

 bushes, varying from one-sixteenth to one-quarter of an inch in diameter, and from five to fifteen inches 

 in length; once in a while, sticks considerably thicker and longer are to be found. These are tangled 

 among themselves and the branches of support, so that a platform of considerable firmness is secured, 

 Avith a slighly concave top. Upon this rough mat of sticks the eggs are deposited. The periphery of 

 the nest is commonly irregular in outline. The diameter of an average nest in its narrowest part is 

 about seven inches; the diameter at right angles to this is from two to five inches greater. The depth 

 is about two inches; sometimes it is so much less that the eggs can be seen from beneath. But when 

 the same nest has been occupied for a series of years — as frequently occurs — the yearly repairs increase 

 these dimensions considerably, especially the depth of the structure. 



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