114 



NEST8 AND E0&8 OF 



194. GBEAT BLUE HERON. Ardea herodias Linn, Geog. Dist.— North 

 America, from the Arctic regions southward to the West Indies and South America. 



191. Great Blue Hereon. 



The Great Blue Heron is often erroneously called "Sand-hill Crane or "Blue 

 Crane" — in fact it is better known by either of these names than it is by its proper 

 vernacular name. One of the most characteristic birds of North America, breeding 

 singly and in colonies in suitable places throughout its range. In the warmer parts 

 of the country it breeds in vast heronies in company with other species of herons, to 

 which places they resort year after year. In Florida it is very abundant, but its 

 numbers are rapidly decreasing by the constant persecution of the "plume hunters." 

 Its rookeries are so frequently broken up, and the remaining birds compelled to re- 

 tire to other resorts, that the breeding season may be said to extend over a period of 

 five or six months, and no doubt two broods are reared in a season. The nest is 

 placed in high trees along rivers, or in the depths of retired swamps; in localities 

 destitute of trees it is built on rocks. Sycamore trees seem to be favorite resorts of 

 these birds, the light color of the limbs and the peculiar tint of the foliage harmon- 

 izing so well with their plumage as to render their presence difficult of detection. 

 The eggs are plain greenish-blue; varying from elliptical to oval in shape; three to 

 six in number, commonly three or four; average size 2.50x1.50. 



[195.] EtTBOPEAN BLUE HERON. 

 Europe; accidental in Southern Greenland. 



Ardea oinerea Linn. Geog. Dist.— 



