BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON, QUA-BIRD. §5 



are able to fly. Many of the nests are annually repaired, and these birds, 

 when they have once found an agreeable settlement, return regularly to it, 

 until some calamity forces them to abandon it. The full number of the eggs 

 is four, and they measure at an average two inches and one-sixteenth by an 

 inch and a half. They are thin-shelled, and of a plain light sea-green colour. 

 In about three weeks after the young are hatched, most of them leave the 

 nest, and crawl about the branches, to which they cling firmly, ascending to 

 the tops of the bushes or trees, and there awaiting the return of their parents 

 with food. If you approach them at such times, the greatest consternation 

 ensues both among the young and the old birds; the loud and incessant 

 croaking which both have until then kept up, suddenly ceases; the parent 

 birds rise in the air, sail around and above you, some alighting on the 

 neighbouring trees; while the young scramble off in all directions to avoid 

 being taken. So great at times is their terror, that they throw themselves 

 into the water, and swim off with considerable rapidity, until they reach the 

 shore, when they run and hide in every convenient place. Retire for half 

 an hour, and you will be, sure to hear the old and the young calling to each 

 other; the noise gradually increases, and in a short time is as loud as ever. 

 The stench emitted by the excrements with which the abandoned nests, the 

 branches and leaves of the trees and bushes, and the ground, are covered, 

 the dead young, the rotten and broken eggs, together with putrid fish and 

 other matters, renders a visit to these places far from pleasant. Crows, 

 Hawks and Vultures torment the birds by day, while Racoons and other 

 animals destroy them by night. The young are quite as good for eating as 

 those of the Common Pigeon, being tender, juicy, and fat, with very little of 

 the fishy taste of many birds which, like them, feed on fishes and reptiles. 

 At this period few if any of the old birds have the long feathers of the hind 

 head, and these are not reproduced before the latter part of the following 

 winter, when they seem to attain their extreme length in a few weeks. 



The flight of the Night Heron is steady, rather slow, and often greatly 

 protracted. They propel themselves by regular flappings of the wings, and, 

 like the true Herons, draw in their head on the shoulders, while their legs 

 stretch out behind, and with the tail form a kind of rudder. When alarmed 

 they at times rise high in the air, and sail about for awhile. They sail in 

 the same manner before alighting on their feeding grounds, which they 

 rarely do without having previously attended to their security by alighting 

 on the neighbouring trees and looking about them. Their migrations are 

 performed under night, when their passage is indicated by their loud hoarse 

 notes, resembling the syllable qua, uttered at pretty regular intervals. On 

 these occasions they appear to fly faster than usual. 



On the ground, this bird exhibits none of the grace observed in all the 



