NIGHT HERON. 
313 
GEALLA TORES. 
ARDEl D/E. 
NIGHT HERON. 
Ardea nycticorax. 
PLATE LXXXII. PIG. I. 
The Night Heron, though rarely to he met with 
in this country, is not unfrequent on some parts of the 
Continent, and is abundant in America, as will be seen 
by the interesting account which I have copied from the 
third volume of Audubon's Ornithological Biography. 
“ This species breeds in communities around the stag¬ 
nant ponds, either near plantations, or in the interior of 
retired and secluded swamps, as well as on some of the 
sea islands covered with evergreen trees. Their heronries 
are formed either in low bushes, or in middle-sized or tall 
trees, as seems most convenient or secure. In the Flo- 
ridas they are partial to the mangroves that overhang the 
salt water; in Louisiana they prefer the cypresses, and in 
the middle states they find the cedars most suitable. In 
some breeding-places within a few miles of Charleston, 
which I visited, the nests were placed on low bushes, 
crowded together, some within a yard of the ground, 
others raised seven or eight feet above it, many being 
placed flat on the branches, whilst others were in the 
forks. Hundreds of these might be seen at once, as 
they were built on the sides of the bushes fronting the 
water. Those which I found in the Floridas were all 
