260 
ORDERS OF BIRDS— HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES 
do not have. It is never seen away from water- 
courses, and, it may be added, in warm weather 
no river-scene is truly complete and perfect 
without one! 
When seen with closed wings, its upper neck 
and body are of a bluish-slate color, and its 
under surfaces are white, streaked up and down 
with black. In the North, this bird is shy, and 
afraid of being shot at; but in the tropics, 
where they are not persecuted, I have some- 
times approached within thirty feet of full- 
grown birds without alarming them. 
The range of this bird is from the arctic 
regions southward wherever the conditions of 
water, timber and food are suitable, to the West 
Indies and South America; but there are many 
arid and treeless regions from which it is totally 
absent. 
The Little Green Heron, or “Fly-up-the- 
Creek ,” 1 is found throughout the well-watered 
regions of the United States, wherever timber 
1 Bu-tor'i-des vi-res'cens. Average length, about 
18 inches. 
is plentiful. In many localities of the Middle 
West and the Mississippi valley from which the 
great blue heron is now absent, this is the only 
heron to be found; and away from the Atlantic 
coast it is the most familiar member of its 
Order. 
Its body is about as large as that of a sparrow- 
hawk, and when in a crouching attitude it is a 
very proper-looking bird. With its neck 
stretched, however, and its head held high, the 
body seems much too small, and 
the neck makes the bird seem top- 
heavy. Start it off in flight, 
however, and it is one of the 
most ill-fitting herons that ever 
took wing. It is so angular and 
loose-jointed it seems ready to fall 
to pieces, and its flight is slow 
and feeble. The prevailing color 
of its plumage is a beautiful me- 
tallic green, but the flat shape 
of its neck, and the peculiar set 
of the feathers thereon have 
caused many young taxider- 
mists some very sad hours. 
The food of the Green Heron 
consists of minnows, small frogs, 
tadpoles and insects. 
The Little Blue Heron' is yet 
fairly abundant in Florida, be- 
cause it bears no fatal “plumes.” 
In summer, this species some- 
times wanders northward as 
far as Illinois and Maine. One 
striking peculiarity of its plu- 
mage is worthy of special men- 
tion. Until one year old, the 
young birds are snow-white, and 
look precisely like young snowy egrets which 
are of corresponding size and form. Sometimes 
it is a matter of difficulty to convince a per- 
son that a snow-white bird is a Little Blue 
Heron, in its first year. But the moulting 
finally tells the story. First the plumage is 
flecked with blue, then it is half blue, and at 
last the solid blue color prevails. It seems to 
me that in clothing young and inexperienced 
birds in snow-white robes, which attract all 
eyes to them, Nature forgot all about “protec- 
tive coloration!” 
2 Ar-de'a cae-ru'le-a. Average length, 24.50 inches. 
New York Zoological Park. 
GREAT BLUE HERON. 
