The Anthony Green Heron 



line, and underparts white; quills and tail pale purplish-blue; legs dusky-greenish" 

 (Coues "Key," 5th Ed.)- Length of adult 609.6-685.8 (24.00-27.00) exclusive of train; 

 wing 254-279.4 (10.00-11.00); tail 88.9 (3.50); bill 101. 6-127 (4.00-5.00); tarsus 101.6 

 (4.00). 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: Of sticks, in large colonies, 

 placed in trees, usually mangroves low over water. Eggs: 3 to 5; bluish green, scarcely 

 distinguishable from those of Snowy Heron {Egretta thula thula). Av. size 44.45 x 33 

 (1.75 x 1.30). 



Range of Hydranassa tricolor. — Southeastern North America, West Indies, 

 Middle America, and northern South America (Guiana, Venezuela, Amazonia). 



Range of H. t. ruficollis. — "Breeds from North Carolina and the Gulf States to 

 the West Indies, Mexico (both coasts), and Central America; winters from South 

 Carolina southward; casual in Indiana, New Jersey, and Long Island" (A. O. U. 

 Check-List, 3rd Ed.). 



Occurrence in California. — Accidental, one record; San Diego, Jan. 17, 1914, 

 by Laurence J. Huey. 



Authorities. — Huey {Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis), Condor, vol. xvii., 1915, 

 p. 57 (La Punta, San Diego Bay, Jan. 17, 1914, one spec); Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric, 

 Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 45, 1913, p. 51, map (distr. and migr.). 



HERONS of almost any species may be expected to wander in the 

 summer far north of their breeding range. But the occurrence in winter 

 of this specimen of Hydranassa, not known to breed west nor north of 

 Guaymas, Mexico, is altogether exceptional. The bird is one of the 

 commonest of Herons in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, and breeds 

 in colonies which sometimes number thousands. 



No. 386 



Anthony's Green Heron 



A. O. U. No. 20ic. Butorides virescens anthonyi (Mearns). 



Synonyms. — Fly-up-the-Creek. Rain Crow. 



Description. — Adult: Top of head and occipital crest glossy dark green (bottle- 

 green) ; median line of throat and neck white, boldly spotted on jugulum with greenish 

 black or greenish dusky; remainder of head and neck rich maroon-chestnut (in extreme 

 examples, and paler and more tawny in average specimens), the feathers more or less 

 decomposed; general color of back and wings green, the interscapulars lanceolate and 

 tapering, with a glaucous or slaty cast and with white shafts; middle coverts bright 

 bottle-green edged with buff; greater coverts dull bottle-green edged with whitish; 

 the primaries dusky slate, with glaucous and greenish reflections; the inner primaries 

 and secondaries narrowly tipped with white; underparts slaty or brownish gray, with 

 buffy or ochraceous washing, and irregularly outcropping white. Bill dark green 

 above, yellow below; iris and lores yellow; feet and legs greenish yellow. Immature: 

 Occipital crest not so long; crown streaked with cinnamon; chestnut of neck not so 



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