WADING BIRDS 
192. Great White Heron. 
Ardea occidentalis. 
Range.- — This species occurs in the United 
States regularly, only in the southern parts of 
Florida. It is a resident of the West Indies. 
This large white Heron is about the same size 
as the Great Blue Heron; it has none of the 
slender plumes found on the smaller White Her- 
ons. These birds are not uncommon in southern 
Florida, especially on the Keyes, where they build 
their nests in company with Great Blue Herons. 
Their nesting habits and eggs are very similar 
to those of the Blue Heron. Size of eggs 2.25 x 
1.80. Data. — Outside of Torch Key, Florida, June 
16, 1899. Nest a platform of sticks about five feet 
from the ground, in a mangrove tree. Three eggs. 
Collector, O. Tollin. 
* - \ 
194. Great Blue Heron. 
herodias. 
Ardea herodias 
Range. — Nearly the whole of North America, 
except the extreme north; resident south of the 
middle portions of the United States and migra- 
tory north of there. 
This handsome Heron is about four feet in 
length. Its general color is a bluish gray, reliev- 
ed by a black crest, primaries and patches on the 
sides, and a white crown. In the south they breed 
in large colonies, often in company with many 
other species. In the northern portions of their 
range they breed singly or in companies of under 
a hundred individuals. They generally place 
their rude platforms of sticks well up in trees, 
near ponds, swamps or rivers, but in the most 
northerly parts of their range, where trees are 
scarce, they often build on the ground. Unless 
they are disturbed, they return to the same breed- 
ing grounds, year after year. They lay from three to five eggs of a greenish 
blue color. Size 2.50 x 1.50. Data. — Duck Island, Maine, May 20, 1883. Three 
eggs. Nest of sticks and twigs, about fifteen feet from the ground. Collector, 
R. B. Gray. 
Great White Heron 
Great Blue Heron 
194a. Northwest Coast Heron. Ardea herodias fannini. 
This darker sub-species of the breeding is found along the Pacific coast, 
north to Sitka, Alaska. Its nests and eggs do not differ from the former 
species. 
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