GREAT HERON. 556 
The Great Heron is a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic coast, 
from New York to Florida; in deep.snows and severe weather seek- 
ing the open springs of the cedar and cypress swamps, and the 
muddy inlets occasionally covered by the tides. On the higher inland 
parts of the country, beyond the mountains, they are less numerous; 
and‘one which was shot in the upper parts of New Hampshire, was 
described to me as a great curiosity. Many of their breeding places 
occur in both Carolinas, chiefly in the vicinity of the sea. Inthe lower 
parts of New Jersey, they have also their favorite places for building, 
and rearing their young. ‘These are generally in the gloomy solitudes 
of the tallest cedar swamps, where, if unmolested; they continue 
annually to breed for many years. These swamps are from half a 
mile to a mile in breadth, and sometimes five or six in length, and 
appear as if they occupied the former channel of some choked up 
river, stream, lake, or arm of the sea. The appearance they present 
to a stranger is singular —a front of tall and perfectly straight trunks, 
rising to the height of fifty or sixty feet, without a limb, and crowded 
in every direction, their tops so closely woven together as to shut out 
the day, spreading ‘the gloom of a perpetual twilight below. On a 
nearer approach, they are found to rise out of the water, which, from 
the impregnation of the fallen leaves and roots of the cedars, is of the 
color of brandy: Amidst this bottom of congregated springs, the 
ruins of the former forest. lie piled in every state of confusion. The 
roots, prostrate logs, and, in many places, the water, are covered with 
green, mantling moss, while an undergrowth of laurel, fifteen or twenty 
feet high, intersects every opening so completely, as to render a pas- 
sage through laborious and harassing beyond description; at every. 
step, you either-sink to the knees, clamber over fallen timber, squeeze 
yourself through between the stubborn laurels, or plunge to the mid- 
dle in ponds made’ by the uprooting of large trees, which the green 
moss concealed from observation. Jn calm weather, the silence of 
eath reigns in these dreary regions; a few interrupted rays of light 
shoot across the gloom; and unless for the occasional hollow screams 
of the Herons, and the melancholy chirping of one or two species of 
small birds, all is silence, solitude, and desolation. When a breeze 
rises,-at first: it sighs: mournfully through the tops; but as the gale 
increases, the tall mast-like cedars wave like fishing-poles, and rub- 
bing against each other, produce a variety of singular noises, that, 
with the help of a little imagination, resemble shrieks, groans, growl- 
ing of bears, wolves, and such like comfortable music. 
On the,tops of the tallest of these cedars the Herons construct their 
nests, ten or fifteen pair sometimes occupying a particular part of the 
swamp. ‘The nests are large, formed of sticks, and lined with smaller 
twigs; each occupies the top of asingle tree. The eggs are generally 
four, of an oblons, pointed form; larger than those of a Hen, and of a 
light greenish blue, without any spots. The young are produced 
about the middle of May, and remain on the trees until they are full as 
heavy as the old ones, being’ extremely fat, before they are able to fly. 
They breed but once in-the season. If disturbed in their breeding 
place, the old birds fly occasionally over the spot, sometimes honking 
like a goose, sometimes uttering a coarse, hollow, grunting noise, like 
that of a hog, but much louder. : 
