GREEN HERON. 
97 
GREEN HERON. 
Ardea virescens. 
Char, The smallest of the Heron family, excepting the Least Bittern. 
Top of head and crest dark metallic green; rest of head and neck rich 
chestnut, sometimes with a tint of maroon; throat with a line of white 
with dark spots ; back dark ash, more or less tinged with green ; wings 
snd tail dark green ; under parts brownish ash. Length i6 to 20 inches. 
JVesi. On the border of a swamp or near the margin of a stream, 
placed on a branch of tree or bush ; made of small twigs loosely laid. 
3-6; bright blue of a rather pale shade, strongly tinged with 
green ; 1.50 X 1.15. 
The Green Bittern, known in many parts much better by a 
contemptible and disgusting name, is the most common and 
familiar species of the genus in the United States. Early in 
April, or as soon as the marshes are so far thawed as to afford 
these birds the means of subsistence, they arrive in Pennsyl- 
vanta, and soon after are seen in New England, but are 
Unknown in the remote and colder parts of Canada. Many 
Winter in the swamps of the Southern States, though others 
retire in all probability to the warmer regions of the continent, 
as they are observed at that season in the large islands of Hayti 
and Jamaica. 
In common with other species, whose habits are principally 
nocturnal, the Green Bittern seeks out the gloomy retreat of 
f e woody swamp, the undrainable bog, and the sedgy marsh, 
f is also a common hermit on the inundated, dark willow and 
^ siraded banks of sluggish streams and brushy ponds, 
w ere it not only often associates with the kindred Kwa Birds 
u-n Great Herons, but frequently with the more petulant herd 
n chattering Blackbirds. When surprised or alarmed, it rises 
^ manner, uttering a hollow guttural scream and a 
k w, ’/i’lv, but does not fly far, being very sedentary ; and 
soon alighting on some stump or tree, looks round with an 
outstretched neck, and balancing itself for further retreat, 
^cquently jets its tail. It sometimes flies high, with neck 
•"cclining and legs extended, flapping its wings and proceed- 
VOL. n. — 7 
