HERONS 81 



"button bushes" in a pond in the canebrake, but we could not 

 locate the colony. 



General habits. — Fortunately for itself, this heron lacks the 

 highly developed plumes worn by the egrets; hence it has not 

 been in demand for millinery uses. In the blue plumage it is 

 easily recognized, but in the white phase is liable to be con- 

 fused with the snowy egret, though it may always be distin- 

 guished from the latter by its yellowish green legs and the 

 slaty tips of the primaries. 



The species nests in colonies, sometimes in company with 

 the Louisiana heron or other species, placing its nest in low 

 trees or bushes over the water. It feeds by day in marshes, 

 or flooded bottoms, along the borders of ponds or streams, or 

 even in little sloughs in heavy woodland. As night approaches 

 the birds congregate in a common roost. 



Food habits. — The food of this heron, as indicated by 4 

 stomachs examined from Alabama, consists of crawfish, small 

 frogs, small fishes, spiders, and dragonflies. The stomach 

 of one taken at Castleberry (June) contained 12 crawfish and 

 one from Autaugaville (May) contained 12 cricket frogs, 2 

 large spiders, and a dragonfly nymph. 



GREEN HERON; "INDIAN-HEN": Butorides virescens 

 virescens (Linnaeus). 



State records. — The little green heron, the most abundant 

 and widely distributed of its tribe, is a common summer resi- 

 dent throughout the State. Strangely enough, its relation- 

 ship to the larger herons is rarely suspected and its true name 

 is known to very few people. Nearly everyone, however, will 

 recognize the bird under the name of "Indian hen," which is 

 commonly applied to it in the South. It has been observed in 

 the breeding season at Elkmont, Stevenson, Greensboro, 

 Auburn, Weogufka, Seale, Dothan, Mobile, Stockton, Coden, 

 and on Dauphin Island. McCormack records it arriving at 

 Leighton, in spring, about the first of April and departing 

 in fall by the 20th of September. Nesting begins in April 

 and continues through May. Young birds were found in a 

 nest at Prattville, May 7,t and eggs at Leighton, May 15. 



tGolsan and Holt, The Auk, vol. 81, p. 217, 1914. 



