OF VIRGINIA 4 
GENus FLorIDA. 
[200]. Florida cerulea (Linnwus). Little Blue Heron. 
[Little Blue Crane J. 
Rance.—North and South America. Formerly bred 
from Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, and New Jersey to 
western Mexico and south to Argentina and Peru; in the 
United States now breeds locally in the Gulf Coast north 
to Virginia (James River tributaries); wanders casually 
to Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ontario, New England, and 
Nova Scotia; winters from South Carolina southward. 
These birds do not winter with us, arriving about April 
10th. While I have as yet no actual knowledge of these 
birds now breeding on our coast, they do, however, nest in 
the swamps and creeks near Jamestown and in Chicka- 
hominy region in large rookeries, and the young birds 
work down the James River in the early fall to within a 
few miles of Newport News. They probably also nest in 
the swamps bordering Back Bay. I have had numerous 
young in their white plumage in my pond every vear, while 
the creeks further up the river are dotted with them 
during low tide. Their nests and habits are almost iden- 
tical with the following species, while their eggs can not 
be. distinguished with a certainty from those of the Green 
Heron except in measurement, which is a trifle smaller. 
Eggs three to four in number, a pale bluish-green. Size, 
1.65x1.30. Fresh eges May ist. Only one brood a 
season. In 1875 my father found them breeding 
abundantly on Mock Horn Island, but they have been 
driven from that section, as was the Great Blue Heron. 
