668 U. S. p. K. E. EZP. AND SURVEYS — ^ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



AEDEA HEEODIAS, Linnaeus. 



Great Blue Heron, or Crane. 



Ariea herodias, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 237, No. 15 — Gm. I, 1788, 630.— Latham, Ind. Orn. 11, 1790, 692.— 



Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 1814, 28 ; pi. Ixv.- Bon. Obs. 1825, No. 188.— Wagler, Syst. A.v. 1827 ; 



Jirdea, No. 1.- Nutt. Man. II, 1834, 42.— Aud. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 87: V, 599; pi. 211.— Ib. 



Syn. 1839.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 122 ; pi. 369.— Bp. Consp. II, 1855, 112.— Gundl. Cab. 



Jour. IV, 1856, 340. 

 ^rdea hudsonias, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 238, No. 18.— Gmeun, I, 1788, 631. ■" 



Ardea virginiana cristata and Ardeafreti hudsonis, Brisson. 

 Large created heron, Catesbt, Car. App. pi. x. 

 Ash-colored heron, Edwards. — GfreaJ heron and Red-shouldered heron. Pennant, Latham. 



Sp. Ch. — Lower third of tibia bare. Above bluish ash ; edges of wing and the tibia rufous. Neck cinnamon brown. Head 

 Iblack, with a white frontal patch. Body beneath black, broadly streaked on the belly with white. Crissum white Middle 

 ine of throat white, streaked with black and rufous. Length, 42 inches ; wing, 18.50 ; tarsus about 6.50 ; bill about 5.50. 



Hub. — Throughout the entire territory of the United States ; West Indies. 



Bill lengthened, compressed, nearly straight to the terminal third, when there is a very 

 gentle convexity of the culmen and a greater of the gonys. Tibia bare for more than one-third. 

 Middle toe two-thirds the length of the tarsus. Outer lateral toe longer than the inner. Feathers 

 of the crown elongated, acute ; the occiput with two long feathers as long as the bill. Scapular 

 feathers elongated, acutely lanceolated. 



Adult. — Bill yellow dusky at the base and greenish above. The forehead and central part of 

 the crown are white, encircled laterally and behind by black, of which color is the occipital 

 crest and its two elongated feathers. The neck is of a light smoky cinnamon brown, with 

 perhaps a tinge of purple ; the chin and throat whitish ; the feathers along the central line of 

 the throat to the breast white, streaked with black, and also with reddish brown, except on the 

 elongated feathers of the breast. The body may be described as bluish ash above and on the 

 sides. The under parts, including the tuft of feathers on each side the breast and the belly to 

 the white crissum, are sooty black, much varied along the middle line with white. The tibia 

 and the edge of the wing are rufous. The CLuills are black, becoming more plumbeous internally 

 until the innermost secondaries are ashy, like the back. The elongated tips of the scapular 

 feathers have a whitish shade. The tail is of a bluish slate color. According to Mr. Audubon, 

 the bill in life is yellow ; dusky green above ; loral and orbital spaces light green ; iris yellow ; 

 feet olivaceous, paler above the tibio-tarsal joint. Claws black. 



Toung. — The upper mandible is blackish. The lower yellow, except along the commissure. 

 The head above is entirely dusky, without the much elongated occipital feathers. The breast 

 is grayish, streaked with white and light brown, but without any pure black patches. The back 

 is without the elongated scapular feathers. In still younger specimens the coverts are all mar- 

 gined with rufous, which becomes lighter at the tip. The rufous of the tibia is much lighter. 



Specimens vary considerably in size as well as in shade of plumage. Washington Territory 

 skins are considerably darker and larger than more southern ones on the west coast. I have 

 before me no adult spring birds from the east. 



A specimen from Mexico is smaller, but otherwise apparently similar. This appears to 

 correspond somewhat to the Ardea lessoni of Wagler, his specimen perhaps being immature, 

 with the whole head above still blackish. 



