84 
BLACK-OROWRED RIGHT HEROR, QUA-BIRD. 
them from secluded feeding-grounds, and thus I have shot a good many in 
different parts of the United States, and even in the Middle Districts. They 
are, however, rarely shot whilst on the ground, their hearing being still 
more acute than that of the American Bittern, which prefers squatting in 
the grass to flying off, when any noise is heard, whereas the Night Heron 
rises immediately. 
This species breeds in communities around the stagnant ponds, either near 
rice plantations or in the interior of retired and secluded swamps, as well as 
on some of the sea-islands covered with evergreen trees. Their heronries 
are formed either in low bushes, or in middle-sized or tall trees, as seems 
most convenient or secure. In the Floridas, they are partial to the 
mangroves that overhang the salt-water ; in Louisiana, they prefer the 
cypresses ; and in the Middle States, they find the cedars most suitable. In 
some breeding-places within a few miles of Charleston, which I visited in 
company with my friend John' Bachman, the nests were placed on low 
bushes, and crowded together, some within a yard of the ground, others 
raised seven or eight feet above it, many being placed flat on the branches, 
while others were in the forks. Hundreds of them might be seen at once, 
as they were built on the side of the bushes fronting the water. Those 
which I found in the Floridas were all placed on the south-west sides of 
mangrove islands, but were farther apart from each other, some being only 
about a foot above high-water mark, while others were in the very tops of 
the trees, which, however, scarcely exceeded twenty feet in height. In 
some inland swamps in Louisiana, I saw them placed on the tops of tall 
cypress trees about a hundred 'feet high, and along with those of Ardea 
Herodias , A. alba , and some Anhingas. In the Jerseys I have found the 
Night Herons breeding on water-oaks and cedars ; and my friend Thomas 
Nuttall informs me, that “in a very secluded and marshy island, in Fresh 
Pond, near Boston, there likewise exists one of these ancient heronries; and 
though the birds have been frequently robbed of their eggs, in great 
numbers, by mischievous boys, they still lay again immediately after, and 
usually succeed in raising a second brood.” The same accurate observer 
remarks, that “ about the middle of October, the Qua-birds begin to retire 
from this part of Massachusetts, towards their southern winter quarters, 
although a few of the young birds still linger occasionally to the 29th or' 
80th of that month.” This last observation is a further evidence of the 
reluctance which the young of this species feel to go as far south during 
winter as the old birds. 
The nest of the Night Heron is large, flattish, and formed of sticks placed 
in different directions, sometimes to the height of three or four inches. At 
times it is arranged with so little care, that the young upset it before they 
