THE LITTLE BLUE HERON. 



{Ardea caerulea.) 



Far up some brook's still course, whose current mines 



The forest's blackened roots, and whose green marge 



Is seldom visited by human foot. 



The lonely heron sits, and harshly breaks 



The Sabbath silence of the wilderness ; 



And you may find her by some reedy pool, 



Or brooding gloomily on the time-stained rock 



Beside some misty and far-reaching lake. 



— Isaac McLellan, "The Notes of the Birds." 



The Little Blue Heron is burdened 

 with a number of common names, some 

 of which are local and mean but little to 

 one not resident in the district where 

 they are used. It is often called the Blue 

 Egret, and in some parts of Florida it is 

 called the Bobby. The latter name is not 

 unmeaning to those who have seen it 

 standing in the water, sphinx-like, pa- 

 tiently waiting for its prey to come with- 

 in striking distance. When resting, too, 

 it stands like a statue with its neck drawn 

 back so that the head rests upon the body 

 between the wings. The young are white 

 and are called Little White Herons. 



The range of the Little Blue Heron is 

 quite circumscribed. It is a native of 

 northern South America, Central Ameri- 

 ca, the West Indies and the temperate 

 regions of the United States, nesting as 

 far northward as the States of Virginia 

 and southern Illinois. After the breeding 

 season, it wanders northward and has 

 been found in Nova Scotia. Nebraska 

 seems to be the western limit of its range. 

 It is very common on the lakes and 

 streams of Florida and the other states 

 bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. 



Nature did not adorn this Heron with 

 the beautiful aigrette plumes of its rela- 

 tive, the snowy heron, and it has thus 

 escaped the ruthless slaughter of the 

 hunter who kills only for the gain that 

 results from the demands of a cruel fash- 

 ion. The white young birds are some- 



times mistaken for snowy herons, but 

 may be easily distinguished by their yel- 

 low legs and feet, the legs of the latter 

 heron being black. 



The Little Blue Heron is a true fisher- 

 man. It neither moves or utters a sound 

 while watching for its prey, and it 

 knows that it is best not to fish in com- 

 pany. In its home life, however, it is 

 not a hermit. It nests in colonies and 

 passes a social life with its fellows. 

 "When undisturbed in their rookeries, 

 each bird seems to have something to 

 say and the result is a strange chorus of 

 croaking voices." The flocks may con- 

 sist entirely of the adult blue birds or of 

 both the adults and the white young. 

 Occasionally a flock contains only the 

 young birds. 



The cypress swamps of the Southern 

 States' are the favorite resorts of the her- 

 ons. Some of these swamps contain a 

 large number of rookeries, not only of the 

 Little Blue Heron builds its home in the 

 herons. Unlike the great blue heron 

 which nests in the tops of tall trees, the 

 Little Blue Heron builds its home in the 

 bushes over or near the water in which 

 it seeks its food. The nest is a crude 

 platform of sticks. It is probable that the 

 birds return to the same rookeries year 

 after year during the breeding season, 

 and though a pair may not use the same 

 nest each season, they simply repair an 

 old platform by the addition of a lining 

 of new twigs. 



119 



