ARDEID.E — THE HERONS — GARZETTA. 
31 
among the red cedars of Summer’s Beach, on the coast of Cape May. The place was 
sheltered from the Atlantic by a range of sand-hills, and on its land side was a fresh- 
water marsh. The cedars were not high, but were so closely crowded together as 
to render it difficult to penetrate through them. Some trees contained three, others 
four nests, built wholly of sticks. The eggs, usually three in number, measured 
1| inches by If . The birds rose, without clamor, in vast numbers, and alighted on 
the tops of the trees around. Wilson adds that this Heron was seen at all times 
during the summer among the salt marshes, searching for food, or passing in flocks 
from one part of the bay to the other. It often made excursions up the rivers and 
inlets, but returned regularly in the evening to the cedars to roost. He also found 
the same species early in June on the Mississippi as far up as Fort Adams, among 
the creeks and inundated woods. 
According to Audubon, it is a resident throughout the year in Florida and in 
Louisiana. It is very sensitive to cold, and does not remain in severe weather 
near Charleston, nor return there in the spring before the 18th of March. It 
reaches New Jersey the first week in May. In its migrations it flies, both by night 
and by day, in loose flocks of from twenty to a hundred, sometimes in lines, but 
usually in a straggling manner. It is silent, and flies at a height rarely more than 
a hundred yards. Its flight seems undetermined, yet is well sustained. In the 
breeding season it has been observed to exhibit the most singular movements, now 
and then tumbling over and over, in the manner of the Tumbler Pigeon. It breeds 
in large communities, is very social, and does not disturb such birds as seek to breed 
in its neighborhood. Several nests are sometimes built in the same tree, and occa- 
sionally so low that a person can easily see into them. Where it has been disturbed 
it breeds in taller trees, but very rarely in high ones. The nest is usually over water. 
The structure is rather small, is built of dry sticks, and has a shallow cavity. The 
eggs are usually three, measure 1 j-<f inches in length, and 1 j in breadth, and are 
broadly elliptical in form. Audubon states that while in the Carolinas, in the month 
of April, this bird resorts to the borders of the salt-water marshes, and feeds prin- 
cipally on shrimps. At the time the shrimps are ascending the Mississippi River 
this Heron is frequently seen standing on floating logs busily engaged in picking 
them up. At later periods it feeds on small fry, crabs, snails, aquatic insects, small 
lizards, and young frogs. 
This Heron, more than any other kind, is what Mr. N. B. Moore designates as a 
scraper, or raker, because it uses its legs and claws to start from their hiding-places 
such animals as it wishes to seize for food — namely, crawfish, tadpoles, suckers, 
aquatic insects, etc. In this movement it far surpasses all other species, and man- 
ages its legs with greater adroitness and rapidity. On Feb. 18, 1878, he watched a 
flock of seventy making their meal, being himself concealed within a few steps. In 
the same pond were a number of the egretta , and a few of other kinds. Scarcely one 
of this species obtained any food without raking for it, numbers being thus engaged 
at the same time. The use of the foot was so rapid as to cause the whole body to 
quiver. The scrapers will thus work sometimes in water so deep as to reach their 
bellies, and at times in water only an inch or two deep. Each species has its own 
peculiar mode of managing its feet. 
On April 27, 1867, Mr. Moore visited a heronry in Louisiana, where this species 
and the Little Blue Heron were breeding in close proximity. He climbed to a tree- 
top, where he could look down upon many nests. In seventy belonging to this species 
he found, in ten five eggs in each, in a large majority four eggs in each, while some 
had only one egg. 
