ARDEA V1RESCENS. 
415 
HABITS. 
The Little Blue Herons are, without exception, the most agile of the family, springing 
into air when startled, with the ease of a Snipe, and when once on the wing, moving with 
great rapidity. These birds exhibit a decided predilection for inland waters, running about 
the margins of the lakes and rivers, or walking over the aquatic plants which float on the 
surface, in order to catch fishes, frogs, or insects. It is a noticeable fact, that birds in the 
white plumage are much tamer than those in the blue, but this may be accounted for, by 
fact, that the light colored specimens are all young. It is also quite rare to see a blue bird 
without companions, while the white are more solitary, and a single individual will often 
haunt a certain spot for mouths. Thus, there was one at Blue Spring, which was accus¬ 
tomed to fish in a small stream that was about half a mile long, and the bird never left it, 
even roosting at night in the high trees that overhung the water. These Herons breed 
while in the white plumage, and also when passing from one stage to the other. There 
can be no doubt but what the white birds are all comparatively young, for although they 
often acquire the long plumes when thus colored, they invariably assume the blue livery, 
as a final dress; but on the other hand, I do not think that any are blue from birth, they 
all, according to my experience which has been very large, for I have examined hundreds 
of specimens, pass through the white phase of plumage. These little Herons are accus¬ 
tomed to wander considerably and I have even met with them in Massachusetts, where, 
however, they are only stragglers. 
ARDEA VIRESCENS. 
Little Green Heron. 
Ardea vircscens Linn, Syst. Nat., I; 1796, 238. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, robust. Size, very small. Tongue, very long, slender, and narrowing gradually to tip which is point¬ 
ed. Head, neck, back, and breast, provided with lanceolate plumes. Lower fourth of tibia, naked. 
Color. Adult. Top of head and upper parts, dark-brown, glossed with green on all but quills which are tinged with 
bluish as are also the plumes on back. Wing feathers, edged with reddish and tipped with white. Neck, chestnut-red, 
streaked in a line in front, with white and dusky. Beneath, ashy, tinged with yellowish. Iris and feet, yellow. Naked 
space in front of eyes and bill, brown and yellow. 
Youny. Similar to the adult but lack the plumes; the feathers of the upper parts are edged with reddish, and the 
neck and lower parts are streaked with dusky. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known by the small size and greenish glossing above. . Distributed, in summer, throughout the United States. 
Winters in Florida. • 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 17*50, stretch, 24'25; wing, 7'25; tail, 
275; bill, 2 20; tarsus, 2 - 45. Longest specimen, 10*30; greatest extent of wing, 28 00; longest wing, 7'85; tail, 3 00; bill, 
2 40; tarsus, 2*90. Shortest specimen, 15*50; smallest extent of wing, 20*50; shortest wing, 6*75; tail, 2*35; bill, 2 00; tar¬ 
sus, 2*00. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests , placed in trees or bushes, composed of sticks, loosely arranged. Eyys, three to five in number, elliptical in 
form, greenish-blue in color, unspotted. Dimensions from l*10x 145 to l*25x 1*60. 
HABITS. 
The Little Green Herons are known to all who have ever rowed a boat on any of our 
creeks or rivers, or walked along their margins, for these birds are common from Canada 
