148 
BLUE HERON. 
Ardea ccerulea, Linn . 
PLATE CCCLXXII. — Adult Male and Young. 
Along with a few other Herons, this is, comparatively speaking, confined 
within narrow limits along our southern coast in winter. It occurs, how- 
ever, in most parts of the Floridas, where it is a constant resident, and 
whence, at the approach of summer, vast multitudes are seen proceeding 
northward, in search of suitable places in which they may rear their young 
in security. Many, however, go southward, beyond the limits of the United 
States, and proceed coastwise to Texas and Mexico to spend the winter, 
especially the younger birds, w r hen still in that singular white plumage which 
differs so much from that of the young of every other known species of this 
genus, except that of the Reddish Egret (A. rufescens ). At New Orleans, 
where it arrives at the same period, both from Mexico and the Floridas, its 
first appearance in spring is about the beginning of March ; at which time 
also multitudes leave the Floridas on their way eastward, to settle in Georgia, 
the Carolinas, and other States farther east, as far as Long Island in that of 
New York. Beyond this, I believe, no birds of the species have been met 
with. They rarely, if ever, proceed far inland, or leave the shores of our 
large rivers and estuaries. On the Mississippi, the swamps and lakes on the 
borders of which are so well adapted to the habits of these birds, few indi- 
viduals are ever seen above Natchez. About the beginning of September, 
by which time the young are able to shift for themselves, they return south- 
ward. 
When in the Floridas, during winter, I observed that the Blue Herons 
associated with other species, particularly the White Heron, Ardea Egretta, 
and the Louisiana Heron, Ardea Lxidoviciana, all of which were in the 
habit of roosting together in the thick evergreen low bushes that cover the 
central parts of the islands along the coast. Their passage to and from their 
feeding places, is as regular as the rising and setting of the sun, and, unless 
frequently disturbed, they betake themselves every night to the same 
locality, and almost to the same spot. In the morning, they rise with one 
accord from the roosts on which they have been standing all night on one leg, 
the other drawn up among the feathers of the abdomen, their neck retracted, 
