GREEN HERON. 



503 



smaller but more elegant and showy one, appears to be nearly or quite 

 coincident, it would appear that the larger bird is much the most num- 

 erous in this State, as well as regular in its visits. 



Aedea viEEScjiNs Linnseus. 



Gi-reen Heron. 



Ardea vireacens, Kirtland, Ohio Gteolog. Snrv., 1838, 165. — Cope, Zool, Sketch of-Ohlo, 

 WalliDg and Gray's Atlas of Ohio, 1672, 25. — Whbaton, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio 

 Agric. Bep. for 1874, 1875, 573 ; Reprint, 13.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 15. 



Butorides viretcens, WheaTON, Ohio Agrie, Rep. for 1860, 186], 363. — Langdon, Revised 

 List, Journ. Cin. See. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 184 j Reprint, 18 ; Summer Birds, ib., iii, 

 1880, 227. 



Ardea vireseetit, Linn.«;u8, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 238. 

 Butorides viresoma, Bonaparte, Consp. Av., ii, 1855, 128. 



Ada It in the breeding season with the crown, long soft occipital crest, and lengthened 

 narrow feathers of the back lustrous dark-green, sometimes with a bronzy iridescence, 

 and on the back often with a glancong cast ; wing-coveits green, with conspicnons tawny 

 edgings ; neck purplish-chestnut, the throat line variegated with dusky or whitish ; under 

 parts mostly dark brownish- ash, belly variegated with white; quills and tail green- 

 ish-dusky with a glaucous shade, edge of the wing white; some of the quills usually 

 white tipped; bill greenish-black, much of the under mandible yellow; lores and iris 

 yellow ; legs greenish-yellow ; lower neck with lengthened feathers in front, a bare 

 space behind. Young with the head less crested, the back without long plumeS) bat 

 glossy greenish, neck merely reddish-brown, and whole under parts white, variegated 

 with tawny and dark-brown. Length, 16-18 ; wing, about 7 ; bill, 2^ ; tarsus, 2 ; mid- 

 dle toe an-d claw, about the same ; tibia bare 1 or less. 



Habitat, United States generally, breeding throughout and wintering in the South. 

 Mexico. West Indies. Central America to Venezuela. 



Abundant summer resident, from April 1, to October. Breeds. The 

 most numerous of the family in the State. Everywhere a well-known 

 and unpopular bird. It has numerous common names, among which 

 Ply-up the-creek is probaWy the most refined. It is much less abundant 

 in this immediate vicinity than formerly, where, once unsuspicious, it 

 has become quite shy and wary. 



The nest of the Green Heron is composed of twigs, placed in small tree 

 in a swamp or on the border of a stream, not unfrequently in an orchard 

 at a distance from water. The eggs are light greenish-blue. 



Gbnds NYCTIARDEA. Swainson. 



Powder-down-tracts as in Ardea. No elongated or peculiar feathers of neck or back 

 at any season. Tail feathers twelve. Sexes similar. 



