84 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON, QUA-BIRD. 



them from secluded feeding-grounds, and thus I have shot a good many in 

 different parts of the United States, and even in the Middle Districts. They 

 are, however, rarely shot whilst on the ground, their hearing being still 

 more acute than that of the American Bittern, which prefers squatting in the 

 grass to flying off, when any noise is heard, whereas the Night Heron, rises 

 immediately. 



This species breeds in communities around the stagnant ponds, either near 

 rice plantations or in the interior of retired and secluded swamps, as well as 

 on some of the sea-islands covered with evergreen trees. Their heronries 

 are formed either in low bushes, or in middle-sized or tall trees, as seems 

 most convenient or secure. In the Floridas, they are partial to the 

 mangroves that overhang the salt-water; in Louisiana, they prefer the 

 cypresses; and in the Middle States, they find the cedars most suitable. In 

 some breeding-places within a few miles of Charleston, which I visited in 

 company with my friend John Bachman, the nests were placed on low 

 bushes, and crowded together, some within a yard of the ground, others 

 raised seven or eight feet above it, many being placed flat on the branches, 

 while others were in the forks. Hundreds of them might be seen at once, 

 as they were built on the side of the bushes fronting the water. Those 

 which I found in the Floridas were all placed on the south-west sides of 

 mangrove islands, but were farther apart from each other, some being only 

 about a foot above high-water mark, while others were in the very tops of 

 the trees, which, however, scarcely exceeded twenty feet in height. In 

 some inland swamps in Louisiana, I saw them placed on the tops of tall 

 cypress trees about a hundred feet high, and along with those of Jlrdea 

 Herodias, Ji. alba, and some Anhingas. In the Jerseys I have found the 

 Night Herons breeding on water-oaks and cedars; and my friend Thomas 

 Nuttall- informs me, that "in a very secluded and marshy island, in Fresh 

 Pond, near Boston, there likewise exists one of these ancient heronries; and 

 though the birds have been frequently robbed of their eggs, in great 

 numbers, by mischievous boys, they still lay again immediately after, and 

 usually succeed in raising a second brood." The same accurate observer 

 remarks, that "about the middle of October, the Qua-birds begin to retire 

 from this part of Massachusetts, towards their southern winter quarters, 

 although a few of the young birds still linger occasionally to the 29th or 

 30th of that month." This last observation is a farther evidence of the 

 reluctance which the young of this species feel to go as far south during 

 winter as the old birds. 



The nest of the Night Heron is large, flattish, and formed of sticks placed 

 in different directions, sometimes to the height of three or four inches. At 

 times it is arranged with so little care, that the young upset it before they 



