518 AEDEA HEKODIAS, GREAT BLUE HERON. 



Am. vi, 1543, 122, pi. 369.— GiR., B. L. I. 1544, •^7i^.—T)^R\v., Yoy. Beagle, 123 

 (Galapagos). — Woodh., Sitgr. Eej). l-'-oS, 97 (Arkansas, Texas, and Nuw Mcx- 

 ico).«-PuTN., Pr. E.S8. lust, i, 15.36, 215 (Massachusetts, sniumur). — Glnhf... .J. 

 f. O.dv, 1856, 340 (Cuba, breeds).— News., P. E. E. Kep. vi, li^57, 97 (California, 

 common).— Bd.,B. X. A. 1555, C65.— SCL., lljis, i, I'^'iiO, 220 (Guateuiala).— N'kwt., 

 ibid. 263 (Santa Cruz).— Bry., Pr. Bost. Soc. 1539 (Bahamas).— Heei!M., P. R. 

 R. Rep. X, 15.59, pt. vi, 63 (California).- Coop. & Suck., X. H. Wash. Ter. l-TiO, 

 225 (Puget Sound).- IL\YD., Rep. 1562. 173.— Wheat., Ohio At,rric. Rep. 15(;u, 

 No. 155.— Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad. 1660, 196(Atrato).— Coues & Prent., Smiths. 

 Rep. 2561, 415 (Washington, summer).- ScL., P. Z. S. 1561, 51 (Ji.maica).— 

 BOARDM., Pr. Bost. Soc. ix, 1562, 128 (Maine, breeds, common). — Verr., Pr. Ess. 

 Inst, iii, 1662, 153 (Maine, breeds). — Au.F.s,iMd. iv. 1564,76 (Massachusetts, 

 breeding).— McIlwr., Hid. 1866, 91 (Canada West).— Coues. ibid, v, 1565, 259.— 

 L.vwR., Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii, 1863 (Panama) ; viii, 1864, 99 (Sombrero) ; ix, 1868, 

 152 (Costa Rica); 210 (Yucatan) ; viii, 186B, 292.— Coues, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii, 1865, 

 123 (South Carolina, resident.) — CoUES, Pr. Pbila. Acad. 1866, 95 (Arizona, 

 breeding) ; 1871, 33 (Xorth Carolina).— Sdxd., Ofv. Vet. Ak. Forh. 1569, 559 (St. 

 Bartholomew). — Allex. Jlem. Bost. Soc. i, 1865, 501 (Iowa). — Dall & Baxn., 

 Tr. Chic. Acad. 1869, 253 (Sitka, Alaska).— Tdrnb., B. E. Pa. 1869, 29 (sum- 

 mer).— Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. ii, 1871, 358 (Florida) ; iii, 1879, 182 (Kansas and 

 Utah).— M.'.YX., Guide. 1870, 143 (Massachusetts) ; Pr. Bost. Soc. 1571 (New 

 Hampshire).— Teippe, Pr. Bost. Soc. xv, 1572, 240 (Iowa).— Coues, Key, 1872, 

 267.- Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 9.— Eidgw., Ann. Lye. N. Y. x, 1874, 386 (Illinois). 

 Ardea Imdsonias, Lrs'^'., Syst. Nat. i, 1766, 335 (EDW.,pl. 135; Briss., v, 407). — Gm., Sv.st. 

 Nat. i, 1788, 631.— Lath., I. O. ii, 1790, 693 ( Arct. Zool. ii. No. 342 ; Gen. Syn. v, 56). 



Sab. — North America, to Hudson's Bay and Sitka. South to Guatemala and Gala- 

 pagos. West Indies. Breeds throughout its range, and winters in the South. ^ 

 Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 5454, near Big Sioux River. ip I , 

 Not obtained by Captain Raynolds' Expedition, nor by the later ones. '^ 



ZSTo species of Heron has a wider distribution in Xorth America, and 

 only the Bittern equals it in the extent of its dispersion. It appears to 

 be more common, however, in the United States than further north, and 

 is resident south of the Middle districts. Herons, as a group, are rather 

 southern birds ; only these two just named proceed beyond the United 

 States, and most, if not all, are more abundant in the southern portions 

 of the Union. They are particularly numerous in the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States, where they breed by thousands, and in which districts 

 several species occur that are not found in corresponding latitudes in 

 the West. On the Pacific side we have no peculiar species, all that 

 occur there being of wide distribution. 



The breeding places of the Great Blue Heron on the Colorado Eiver 

 offer no such scenes as those of the same bird do in Florida, for in- 

 stance. There may, indeed, be places along this river overgi'own with 

 low, dense woods, simulating a cypress swamp, where the birds may 

 resort to breed, along with the Wood Ibises ; but, for the most part, the 

 Herons that wend their way along the Colorado are only screened by low, 

 straggling mezqnite, that scarcely hides them, or patches of arrow-wood 

 {Tessaria borealis), that they can overlook. Where the river flows deep- 

 est and swiftest, cutting itsway through bold caiions that rise frowning 

 on either hand like the battlemeuts of giant castles — where the fervid 

 rays of the sun heat the rocks till they almost crack, and the sand 

 blisters the feet — there the Herons fix their nests, overhanging the ele- 

 ment whence they draw subsistence. The face of the cliffs in many 

 places is covered with singular nests of the Eave Swallow, breeding by 

 thousands: while on the flat projecting shelves of rock we find, here and 

 there, the bulky platforms of twigs and sticks, and perhaps see the 

 sedate bird herself, setting motionless on the nest, hopefully biding her 

 time, cheered during her long waiting by the joyous troops of the Swal- 

 lows that flutter incessantly around. 



Wherever placed, on tree, bush, or rock, the nest of the Heron is a 

 large bed of twigs, more or less matted together with grasses and weeds, 



