HERONS 



I (202) 



Nycticorax 

 naevius 



nycticorax 



iBadd.) (Lat., the night raven; spotter], 

 referring to the plumage of the young). 



BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT 

 HERON; QUAWK. Ads.— Iris red. 

 Legs greenish-yellow. plumage as 

 shown; three long slender plumes 

 from the back of the head, these 

 usually clasping each other so as 

 to appear as one. Im — Iris yellow. 

 Above grayish-brown, edged and 

 spotted with white; below whitish, 

 streaked with brown. L., 25.00; 

 W., 12.50; T., 5.00; Tar., 3.00; B., 

 3.00. Nest — Of sticks in trees, or 

 of rushes on the ground in marshes; 

 in colonies; three to five pale bluish- 

 green eggs, 2.00x1.40. 



Range — Breeds from N. S., Mani- 

 toba and Ore. south to Patagonia. 



the eggs may be seen through the bottom; it holds together 

 barely long enough to accommodate the young until they are 

 able to fly, and long before winter every vestige of it is gone. 



The young are fed quite regularly, so that it is an easy 

 matter to locate nests after the eggs have hatched by follow- 

 ing the line of flight taken by the herons. 



BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS, otherwise 

 known as Quawks or Qua-birds, are abundant in all parts 

 of the United States and the southern British Provinces. 

 During the breeding season they exhibit communistic habits 

 in a very marked degree. All the quawks for miles around 

 settle in some wooded swamp, preferably of coniferous trees. 

 They return to this same location year after year unless 

 driven out. The hours of daylight they usually spend in 

 the heronry dozing, but at dusk they may be seen slowly 

 flapping away in all directions to their favorite fishing pools. 



These heronries, after continued use, become very filth}' 

 places, the trees and ground reeking with decaying fish, 

 frogs, etc., and excrement. Usually they are sufficiently 



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