BLUE CRANE, OR HERON. 
45 
208 . ARDEA CERULJEA, LINNAEUS AND WILSON. 
BLUE CRANE, OR HERON. 
WILSON, PLATE LXII. FIG. III. EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
In mentioning- this species in his translation of the 
System, a Naiurce , Turton has introduced what he calls 
two varieties, one from New Zealand, the other from 
Brazil; both of which, if we may judge by their size 
and colour, appear to be entirely different and distinct 
species; the first being green, with yellow legs, the 
last nearly one half less than the present. By this 
loose mode of discrimination, the precision of science 
being altogether dispensed with, the whole tribe of 
cranes, herons, and bitterns, may be styled mere varieties 
of the genus ardea. The same writer has still farther 
increased this confusion, by designating as a different 
species liis bluish heron, (A. ccerulescens ,) which agrees 
almost exactly with the present. Some of these mis- 
takes may probably have originated from the figure of 
this bird given by Catesby, which appears to have been 
drawn and coloured, not from nature, but from the 
glimmering recollections of memory, and is extremely 
erroneous. These remarks are due to truth, and neces- 
sary to the elucidation of the history of this species, 
which seems to be but imperfectly known in Europe. 
The blue heron is properly a native of the warmer 
climates of the United States, migrating from thence, 
at the approach of winter, to the tropical regions, 
being found in Cayenne, Jamaica, and Mexico. On the 
muddy shores of the Mississippi, from Baton Rouge 
downwards to New Orleans, these birds are frequently 
met with. In spring they extend their migrations as 
far north as New England, chiefly in the vicinity of 
the sea, becoming more rare as they advance to the 
north. On the sea beach of Cape May, I found a few 
of them breeding among the cedars, in company with 
the snowy heron, night heron, and green bittern. The 
description of the present was taken from two of these, 
