AEDEA. 165 



Hai. North America, Gulf States, casually northward to New Jersey and Indiana 26. — 

 Mexico {Deppe & Schiede ^^ ^''), Presidio de Mazatlan {Forrer^''), Mazatlan 

 (Grayson ^^, Bischoff^^), Manzanilla Bay {Xantus^^), Tampico [Sumichrast^^, 

 Bichardson 27), Vera Cruz [Salle ^), Playa Vicente {Trujillo 27), San Baltazar {Ferrari- 

 Perez 22), Tehuantepec city (Sumichrast ^^), Yucatan, Progreso {Schott i3, Stone & 

 Baker ^^), Cozumel I. (Gaumer^"^); British Honduras, Turneff Lagoon, Belize 

 coast (0. <S'.27) ; Guatemala Pacific coast (0. S. & F. D. G. "), Chiapam i", San Jose 27, 

 Huamaclial27 [0. S.) ; Nicaragua, Momotombo {Bichardson^''), Eio Escondido 

 {Bichmond 25), San Juan del Sur, Pacific coast {Nutting ^^) ; Costa Rica {v. Frant- 

 zius 12), Punta Arenas {Zeledon 23) ; Panama ^, Lion Hill Station 27 {M'Leannan), 

 Kio Sabana {Festa ^). — Venezuela * ; Guiana * ; West-Indian Is. 27. 



This Heron is an inhabitant of the Gulf States of North America, occasional stragglers 

 reaching north to New Jersey and Indiana. In Florida it is resident and nests 

 abundantly, and that it breeds in Cuba and Jamaica is proved by the eggs in the 

 Crowley collection. Specimens of A. tricolor from Guiana have been regarded by 

 Mr. Eidgway as distinct from the North- and Central-American race, A. rujicollis, but 

 we agree with Dr. Bowdler Sharpe that the two cannot be separated. 



In Western Mexico, according to Grayson, A. tricolor is a resident, and very common 

 at Mazatlan, as it is indeed throughout the whole of Central America to Panama, and 

 we ourselves saw many among the lagoons on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, but never 

 far inland. Whether it breeds south of Mexico is uncertain, and it is probably only a 

 winter visitant. Mr. Nutting found the species abundant on the Pacific coast of 

 Nicaragua, and Messrs. Stone and Baker record it as very common in the mangrove- 

 swamps at Progreso in Yucatan. 



A. tricolor is apparently less hardy than other small Herons, as Audubon relates 

 that on one occasion, in Florida, a frost in January caused this bird to disappear 

 until the weather became warmer, whilst the other Herons all remained. He also 

 says that it is the most delicate in form, beautiful in plumage, and graceful in its 

 movements of any member of the family. The food consists of small fish, lizards, 

 snails, and insects, at seizing which it is very expert. 



The nest is a flat structure made of small dry sticks, vsdth scarcely any lining, and 

 placed on low trees and bushes. The birds breed in companies, and many hundreds of 

 nests have been found together. The eggs are three (occasionally four, or even five) 

 in number. 



5. Ardea caerulea. 



The Blew Heron, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carol, i. t. 76 '. 



Ardea cterulea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 238^; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 280'; v. Frantzius, 



J. f. Orn. 1869, p. 376 ' ; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p. 218 = ; Cat. Strickl. CoU. p. 517'; P. Z. S. 



1883, p. 427 ' ; Ibis, 1889, p. 376 ' ; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 170 ' ; Zeledon, 



