62 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
Ardea coerulea Linn. 
Jjittle Blue Heron ; Little White Heron. 
Description.* 
Bill about three inches long, and quite slender. 
Adult {blue phase), hreedi'ug plumage. — Bill and lores bluish, former black to- 
wards end ; the long, narrow and pointed dorsal plumes extend sometimes several 
inches beyond the tail ; legs and feet black ; eyes yellow ; head and neck “purplisn- 
red or maroon colored,” top of head and fine hair-like crest, bluish with purplish 
reflections ; lower part of neck and rest of plumage slate-blue (quite light in some 
birds and dark in others) ; some specimens have sooty-black streaks or patches on 
back and most of belly. In fifteen of these herons I find ten have a blue streak 
more or less complete extending down front of neck ; one has throat bluish and 
white ; theother four have necks without these streaks, and as previously described 
Adult {blue and white or intermediate phase). — Four birds show about the fol- 
lowing coloration : Top of head, most of occipital crest, patches on the sides and back 
of neck, most of the forepart of back (usually rather continuous on back), tips of 
primaries, some of long neck plumes, also a few of the long dorsal plumes, different 
shades of bluish ; remainder of plumage white ; bill chiefly bluish black (one has 
yellowish streak on maxilla) ; bluish-yellow about lores and eyes ; legs bluish-black ; 
eyes yellowish. One bird has greater part of back, several large wing feathers, and 
a number of the long dorsal plumes which extend beyond the tail, entirely slaty- 
blue ; primaries faintly tipped with dusky-blue ; the top of head and occipital crest, 
light blue ; single maroon feathers, small patches of a like color appear on head and 
neck. 
Adult {white phase). — Two birds : Bill, lores and legs (dried skin) bluish-black ; 
eyes yellow ; ends of outer quills bluish ; top of head and parts of neck with a faint 
bluish tint ; rest of plumage pure white. 
Young. — Bill greenish yellow from base to about half its length ; under surface of 
lower mandible yellowish, rest of both mandibles blackish ; lores greenish-blue ; 
eyes yellow ; legs greenish or bluish-yellow ; ends of several primaries dusky-blue, 
rest of plumage pure white. 
Habitat . — New Jersey, Illinois and Kansas, southward through Central America 
and the West Indies to Guiana and New Grenada ; casually north on Atlantic coast 
to Massachusetts and Maine. 
This little heron is said to be more diurnal in its habits than others 
of its family. Its food, collected principally in the daytime, according 
to different writers, consists of fish, frogs, tadpoles, worms, lizards, small 
crabs and various kinds of insect-life. Thirty-one of these herons, which 
I obtained in different parts of Florida, in March and April, 1885, were 
found to have fed almost exclusively on small fishes. Twenty-six of 
these birds had only the remains of fish in their viscera. Two others 
had eaten frogs and insects ; two, insects only, and the remaining bird 
had in its stomach two small frogs, a few fish bones and scales, with hair 
of a small mammal. The nest and eggs of the Little Blue Heron are 
very similar to those of the Louisiana Heron. This bird, according to 
my experience, is found in Pennsylvania as a casual visitor in the late 
summer, or early autumn. During the last ten years I have seen two 
or three (all young) which were taken in the southeastern part of the 
* From twenty six specimens; one (young) captured August, 1875, in Pennsylvania, the others taken 
when breeding, in Orange county, Fla. , March, 1885. 
