28 
GREAT HERON. 
ARDEA HERODIAS. 
[Plate LXV.— Fig. 2.] 
Le H6ron hupe de Virginie^ Briss. V, /j. 410, 10 ; Le Heron de la Baye de Hudsojh Id. 407, 
jVb. 7. — Le Grand Htron^ Buff. VII, p. 385 ; Id. p. 386. — Larger crested Heron, Cates- 
BY, App. pi. IG, 1. — Lath. Syn. HI,/*. 85, No, 51; Red-shouldered Heron, Id, No, 
52. — Arct. Zool. No. 341, 342. — Ind. Om. p, 692, No, 56 ; A. Hudsonias, No. 57. — Ash- 
colored Heron from North America, Edwards, pi. 135. — Gmel. Syst, \, p, 630, No, 15; 
p. 632, No. 18. — Peale’s Museum, No, 3629; Young, 3631. 
THE history of this large and elegant bird having been long 
involved in error and obscurity,* I have taken more than common 
pains to present a faithful portrait of it in this place ; and to add 
to that every fact and authentic particular relative to its manners 
which may be necessary to the elucidation of the subject. 
The Great Heron is a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic 
coast from New York to Florida; in deep snows and severe wea- 
ther seeking the open springs of the cedar and cypress swamps, 
and the muddy inlets occasionally covered by the tides. On the 
higher inland parts of the country, beyond the mountains, they are 
less numerous ; and one which was shot in the upper parts of New 
Hampshire, was described to me as a great curiosity. Many of 
their breeding places occur in both Carolinas, chiefly in the vici- 
nity of the sea. In the lower parts of New Jersey they have also 
their favorite places for building, and rearing their young. These 
^ Latham says of this species, that “ all the upper parts of the body, the belly, tail and 
legs, are brown and this description has been repeated by every subsequent compiler. Buf- 
fon, with his usual eloquent absurdity, describes the Heron as “ exhibiting the picture of wretch- 
edness, anxiety and indigence ; condemned to struggle perpetually with misery and want ; sick- 
ened with the restless cravings of a famished appetite a description so ridiculously untrue, 
that, were it possible for these birds to comprehend it, it would excite the risibility of the whole 
tribe. 
