HERONS, EGRETS, BITTERNS 
75 
2'. Color mainly dark green or slaty and brown. 
3. Body dark green. 
4. Neck dark chestnut. virescens, p. 76. 
4'. Neck light chestnut. anthonyi, p. 77. 
3'. Body slaty; neck cinnamon.ruf escens, p. 76. 
Subgenus Ardea. 
194. Ardea herodias Linn. Great Blue Heron. 
Adults. — Upper parts bluish gray; top of head white, bordered by 
black and with black occipital crest; shoulders black, striped with white ; 
under parts heavily streaked with black and white ; thighs and edge of 
wings cinnamon brown. In breeding season : crest with two or more slender 
white plumes. Young : whole crown and crest black ; wing coverts without 
white or rufous spots. Length: 42-50, wing 17.90-49.85, bill 4.30-6.25, 
tarsus 6-8. 
Distribution. — North America, except northwest coast, from Hudson 
Bay and Alaska south to Venezuela. 
Nest. — Usually in tall swamp trees, but sometimes on rocks or the 
ground, a wide platform of sticks with little lining. Eggs: 3 to 6, dull 
greenish blue. 
The blue cranes or great blue herons are common along river 
banks, lake shores, and marshes all over the United States, and are 
everywhere known both by their stilted pose as they stand in shallow 
water watching for fish, and by their heavy flight as they move evenly 
along with crooked neck and big slowly flapping wings. 
194a. A. h. fannini Chapm. Northwest Coast Heron. 
Similar to herodias, but with shorter tarsus and darker plumage, the 
upper parts being bluish slaty black instead of bluish gray ; tibiae more 
feathered. Wing : 17.50, tarsus 5.38, culmen 5.90. 
Distribution. — Queen Charlotte and Vancouver Islands and coast region 
of British Columbia. 
Subgenus Herodias. 
196. Ardea egretta Gmel. Egret. 
Plumage always pure white. Adult in nuptial plumage : scapular plumes 
of dissected filamentose feathers covering back and reaching well beyond 
end of tail; head and neck without crests or long feathers ; feet and legs 
black; bill yellow, usually blackish near tip. Post-breeding plumage and 
young : back without plumes. Length: 37-41, wing 14.10-16.80, bill 4.20- 
4.90; tarsus 5.50-6.80. 
Distribution. — Southern United States and south to Patagonia; north 
irregularly to Oregon, Minnesota, and Nova Scotia. 
Nest. — In trees or bushes, near water. Eggs : 3 to 5, pale bluish. 
The egret, one of the most beautiful of our birds, has been almost 
exterminated for its plumes, which are used in millinery as aigrettes. 
Subgenus Garzetta. 
197. Ardea candidissima Gmel. Snowy Heron. 
Plumage always pure white. Adults in nuptial plumage: scapulars 
with long plumes of dissected filamentose feathers reaching beyond tail 
and recurved at tip; head and throat crested; feet yellow, legs black; 
