HERONS, BITTERNS, ETC.: BLUE HERON 89 
a migrant was also seen at Chloride April 25, 1915, and two were seen April 26, 1915, 
at Mayberry Lake, about 60 miles west of Magdalena (Ligon). On the Carlsbad 
Bird Reserve, 75 were noted April 29, 1914. [At Lake Burford a few spring migrants 
were seen in 1918, three, on May 29; one, May 30; and one, June 3 (Wetmore).]— 
W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Sometimes singly but often in colonies, usually in high cottonwoods or 
other trees, in swamps, but sometimes among reeds, on rocks, or the ground; wide 
platforms of sticks, lined sparingly with strips of bark or long grass roots and 
straws, repaired from year to year. Eggs: 3 to 6, dull greenish blue. 
Food. —Frogs, salamanders, water puppies, lizards, snakes, crabs, crayfish, fish, 
enemies of food fishes, shellfish, eels, dragon fly nymphs, and other insects, especially 
grasshoppers and aquatic beetles, together with meadow mice, shrews, ground 
squirrels, young rats, and gophers. Many harmful rodents are fed to the young. 
General Habits — At fish hatcheries the herons may do consider¬ 
able harm, but in natural conditions the fish they eat are of little con¬ 
sequence, and the water snakes of which they are fond are destructive to 
young trout. In the Chuska Mountains, where the Herons were found 
in fall, there were no fish in the lakes but frogs and salamanders were 
abundant. The California form of the Great Blue Heron, or Gopher 
Crane, as it is called, Doctor Merriam says, is “much prized by the 
ranchmen because of its habit of catching pocket gophers.” When the 
gopher is pushing dirt out of his runway, a Heron will station him¬ 
self at the opening, standing motionless with bill poised ready to strike, 
and when the gopher appears, spear it, toss it in the air, and swallow 
it head first as it comes down. In irrigated alfalfa fields when the 
gophers are driven from their burrows by the water, sometimes a dozen 
Herons will be seen stalking around watching for them. In this way 
they kill great numbers of the pests and are of peculiar value on the 
infested ranches. 
The fact that a dozen of these great birds may be seen in the alfalfa 
fields at one time attests their appetite for gophers, for they are solitary 
hunters, generally being seen alone except at their roosts and in their 
breeding colonies. On their breeding grounds, the fortunate field 
student may watch the display of their handsome plumes in their 
courtship formalities. Other interesting sights have been reported by 
the enthusiastic photographers, Messrs. Carriger and Pemberton, who 
saw one youngster, just hatched, trying to eat up his shell. Older 
ones made frantic efforts to spear their visitors, and so rapid were 
their spear-like thrusts that most of the photographs taken were a 
blurred streak (1908, p. 80). 
Among the large heronries of the Barr Lake region of Colorado, Mr. 
Rockwell states that in August, 1906, a hundred Great Blues were killed 
by a hailstorm. 
After the nesting season, these Herons probably wander north like 
others members of their family. One that was banded by Doctor Wet- 
