131* BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



« 



Pilenm with a full crest of brtfadly lanceolate, compactly webbed feathers, these longer 

 and more narrowlT lanceolate on the occiput. Scapulars and Interscapulars elongated and 

 lanceolate inthe adult, but not reaching the end of the tail (very much as in Srdea), 



Ardea virescens Linn. 



GSESS HEBON. 



Popular synonyms, "Sohytepoko;" "Sa^iawk;" Fly-np-the-Creek; Booby (parts of Florida); 

 Crab-catcher (Jamaica); Uartiueta cangrejero (Mexico). 



Ardea stellaris minima!CATES.BT, Carolina, i, 17B4, pi. 80 (adult). 



Ardea virescens Linn. S. N. ed. 10, 1758, 144, No. 15 (based, in part, on the above); ed. 12, 



1766, i, 238, No. 20.— WrLS. Am. drn. vii, 1813, 97, pi. 61.-Nutt. Man. it, 1834, 63.— AuD. 



Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 217, pi, 3S3; Synop. 1839. 264; Birds Am. yi, 184S, 106, pi. 367.— CouES, 



Key, isrz, 268; Check List, 1873, No. 457; Bird's N. W. 1874, 522.— Keichenow, J. f. O. 



1877, 255.— A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 201.— Eidqw. Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 132. 

 Sutorides virescens BoNAP. Consp. 11, 1855, 128.— BA.IED, Birds N. Am. 1858, 676; Cat. N. 



Am. B. 1859, No. 493.— BroGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 494.— CouES, Check List, 2d. 



ed. 1882, No. 663— b! B. & E. Water B. N. Am. i, 1834, 50, 

 Orabier, de la Louisiane Buff. PI. Enl. 1770-84, pi. 909 (adult). 

 Grahier tacKete, de la Martinique Buff. PI. Enl, 912 (young). 

 Qreen Heron, Lath. Synop. ili, 1785, 68. 

 Louisiana Heron Lath. t. c. 81. 



Ardea -Itidpviciana Gmel. S. N. i, pt. ii, 1788, 630, No. 39 (based on PI. Enl. 909), 

 ? Blue Heron, var. S. Lath. Synop. ili, 1785, 75 (Queen Charlotte's Sound). 

 Ardea chloroptera Bodd, Tabl. P. E. 1783, pi. 909. 

 Cancroma maculata Bodd. t. c. pi. 913. 

 ? Ardea virgata, Gmel 8. N. i, pt. ii, 1788, 643. 



Hab. The whole of temperate North America, West Indies, Middle Amorioa, and 

 northern South America, to Venezuela; north to Ontario and Oregon; abundant both in the 

 Paoiflo States and Eastern Pfoyinoe, but apparently wanting in the Middle Province; Ber- 

 mudas. 



Sp. Chak. Adult: Entire pileum, including oooipital orest, glossy darn; metallic bottle- 

 green; rest of the head and neck, except throat and forSneck, rich chestnut, varying from 

 a Cinnamon shade to a fine purplish maroon; bare orbital space bordered posteriorly witJi 

 greenish black, from the lower part of which projects backward, from the rictus, a short 

 stripe of tfce same ; below this, along the upper edge of the malar region, a narrow stripe 

 of white, the lower malar feathers being mixed black and rufous, forming another stripe ; 

 th oat and foreneok, from chin to chest, white, marked with broad longitudinal dashes 

 ot^dusky. Lower parts ash-gray, the lining of the wing somewhat spotted, and distinctly 

 bordered, outwardly, with creamy white. Scapular plumes glaueous-plumbeous, with a 

 green reflection in certain lights, the shafts white. Wing-coverts and rectrices brilliant 

 metallic bottle-green, the former distinctly bordered, narrowly, with fulvous-white ; these 

 borders on the lesser-coverts, more rusty or fulvous; rectrices immaculate bottle-green; 

 remiges and primary-coverts plumbeous, with a green reflection, the inner primaries and 

 adjoining secondaries with narrow crescentic tips of white, the coverts with terminal del- 

 toid spots of the saine. Bill deep black, the lower mandible sometimes partly- yellowish or 

 greenish; lores and orbits varying from olive-green to bright yellow; iris gamboge-yellow; 

 legs and' feet olive-greeh or olive-yellow, the scutellse more greenish ; claws horn-color. 

 Toung: Pileum, Including orest, as in the adult, but usually streaked with dark rusty an- 

 teriorly ; sides of the head and neck dull dark rusty, indistinctly streaked with light oohra- 

 oeouB, or buff; lower parts white, tinged with buff, and^striped with dusky. Back, scapu- 

 lars, and lump uniform dull dusky-freeu, some of the tet^tbers Indistinctly bordered Trith 



