132 NOTES ON THE HERONS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA. 
NOTES ON THE HERONS OF CENTRAL 
FLORIDA. 
BY T. GILBERT PEARSON, ARCHER, FLORIDA. 
Or the sub-family 4rdeina, or true Herons, eight species 
breed regularly in this section, and for the most part reside 
here throughout the year. When one wishes to observe these 
birds to the best advantage it is but a matter of a few hours’ 
drive at most to one of the numerous prairies which may be 
found anywhere in the pine regions of Florida. These are 
not prairies in the Western sense, but tracts of flat land, 
from a few acres to several miles in extent, where trees are 
prevented from growing by occasional flooding after exces- 
sive rains. Here and there are shallow, grassy ponds and 
lakes, covered with water lilies and holding beneath their 
surface the roots of straggling bunches of buttonwood 
bushes. The prairies are covered with a growth of short 
grass over which hundreds of half wild cattle and hogs roam 
at will. 
These places, at all seasons, are the feeding-grounds of 
herons ; and to the lover of Nature it is a beautiful sight to 
watch the movements of these graceful birds, cautiously 
stealing along the margin with head half lowered and 
eye intent on the water at their feet. Suddenly the head is 
raised and like a flash the long bill descends upon some un- 
lucky frog or fish—not transfixing it, as so many suppose, but 
grasping it between the mandibles. Then follows one or 
two rapid backward movements of the head and neck, and 
