46 
ARDEA CEHULa:A. 
shot in the month of May, while in complete plumag*' 
Their nests were composed of small sticks, built in tb« 
tops of the red cedars, and contained five eg-gs, of * 
light blue colour, and of somewhat a deeper tint thai' 
those of the night heron. Little or no difference coulii 
be perceived between the colours and markings of tW 
male and female. This remark is applicable to almos* 
the whole genus; thoi^h, from the circumstance 
many of the yearling birds differing in plumage, thej 
have been mistaken for females. 
The blue heron, though in the Northern States 
be found chiefly in the neighbourhood of the oceaCi 
probably on account of the greater temperature of tb< 
climate, is yet particularly fond of fresh water bogs, of 
the edges of the salt marsh. These it often frequents 
wading about in search of tadpoles, lizards, variou* 
lar vse of M’inged insects, and mud worms. It movef 
actively about in search of these, sometimes making * 
run at its prey ; and is often seen in company with tb^ 
snowy heron. Like this last, it is also very silent, intenb 
and watchful. 
The genus ardea is the most numerous of all tb< 
wading tribes, there being no less than ninety-six dif' 
ferent species enumerated by late writers. These ar^ 
again subdivided into particular families, each dis' 
tinguished by a certain peculiarity. The cranes, bj 
having the head bald ; the storks, with the orbits naked) 
and the herons, with the middle claw pectinated. T® 
this last belong the bitterns. Several of these at* 
nocturnal birds, feeding only as the evening twiligb* 
commeuce.s, and reposing either among the long gras* 
and reeds, or on tall trees, in sequestered places, '’duria# 
the day. What is very remarkable, these night 
derers often associate, during the breediuo- seaso®' 
with the others, building their nests on the^branclif* 
of the same tree; and, though differing so little 
external form, feeding on nearly the same food, liviaf' 
and lodging in the same place, yet preserve their rat^’ 
language, and manners, as perfectly distinct from the**’ 
