28 



GREAT HERON. 

 ARDEA HEBODIAS. 

 [Plate LXV.— Fig. 2.] 



Le Heron hupe de Virginie, Bmss. V, p. 416. 10.^ — Le Grand Heron d'Amerique, Buff. VII, p. 385.— 

 Larger crested Heron, Catesb. tlpp. pi, ±OfJig. 1. — Lath. Syn, III, p. 85. — Jlrct. Zool. JVa. 341. 

 — Peace's Museumg JVo. 3629. 



THE history of this large and elegant bird having been long 

 involved in error and obscurity,^ I have taken more than common 

 pains to present a faithful portrait of it in this place ; and to add 

 to that every fact and authentic particular relative to its manners 

 which may be necessary to the elucidation of the subject. 



The Great Heron is a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic 

 coast from New York to Florida; in deep snows and severe wea- 

 ther seeking the open springs of the cedar and cypress swamps^ 

 and the muddy inlets occasionally covered by the tides. On the 

 higher inland parts of the country, beyond the mountains, they are 

 less numerous ; and one which was shot in the upper parts of New 

 Hampshire, was described to me as a great curiosity. Many of 

 their breeding places occur in both Carolinas, chiefly in the vici- 

 nity of the sea. In the lower parts of New Jersey they have also 

 their favorite places for building, and rearing their young. These 

 are generally in the gloomy solitudes of the tallest cedar swamps, 

 where, if unmolested, they continue annually to breed for many 

 years. These swamps are from half a mile to a mile in breadth, 



* Latliara says of this species, that " all the upper parts of the body, the belly, tail and legs 

 are hrownf and this description has been repeated by every subsequent compiler. Bulfon, with his 

 usual eloquent absurdity, describes the Heron as " exhibiting the picture of wretchedness, anxiety and 

 indigence; condemned to struggle perpetually with misery and want ; sickened with the restless cravings 

 of a famished appetite ;" a description so ridiculously untrue, that, were it possible for these birds to 

 comprehend it, would excite the risibility of the whole tribe. 



