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WADING BIRDS. 
GREAT BLUE HERON.. 
BLUE CRANE. 
Ardea HERODIAS. 
Char. General color ashy blue, darker on the wings ; thighs and 
edge of wings chestnut ; crest white, bordered by black, from which ex- 
tend two long, slender black feathers ; spots of dusky and chestnut on 
front of the neck ; under parts dusky, broadly striped with white ; long 
and slender plumes of pale pearly gray hang from the breast and fall 
gracefully over the wings (these plumes are wanting in the autumn) ; bill 
longer than the head, stout, and acute, of yellow color ; legs and feet 
black. Length about 42 to 50 inches. 
Nest. Usually with a community situated in a sycamore or cypress 
swamp, or (at the North) in a grove of deciduous trees; placed on the 
upper branches of tall trees, — sometimes on bare rocks ; made of small 
dry twigs, and lined each year with fresh green twigs. 
Egsfs. 3-5 (usually 4) ; greenish blue; 2.50 X i-SO- 
I'he Great Heron of America, nowhere numerous, may be 
considered as a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic States, from 
New York to East Florida, in the storms of winter seeking out 
open springs, muddy marshes subjected to the overflow of 
tides, or the sheltered recesses of the cedar and cypress swamps 
contiguous to the sea-coast. As a rare or accidental visitor, 
it has been found even as far north as Hudson Bay, and com- 
monly passes the breeding- season in small numbers along the 
coasts of all the New England States and the adjoining parts 
of British America. Mr. Say also observed this species at 
Pembino, in the 49th parallel. Ancient natural heronries of 
this species occur in the deep maritime swamps of North and 
South Carolina ; similar associations for breeding exist also in 
the lower parts of New Jersey. Its favorite and long-fre- 
quented resorts are usually dark and enswamped solitudes or 
boggy lakes, grown up with tall cedars, and entangled with an 
under-growth of bushes and Kalmia laurels. These recesses 
defy the reclaiming hand of cultivation, and present the same 
gloomy and haggard landscape they did to the aborigines of 
the forest, who, if they existed, might still pursue through the 
tangled mazes of these dismal sw'amps the retreating bear and 
