HERONS, wading birds of the order He rodii, forming, with egrets and bitterns, the family Ardeida. The family is characterized by a thin, compressed body; a long, thin neck; a straight, narrow, pointed beak; fully feath ered head; longish, slender legs; three toes in front, the two outer united by a membrane, the middle claw pectinate; large, blunt wings; ex tensive development of powder-down tracts of disintegrating, shaftless feathers; and often by elongated feathers of the top of the head and other parts. Upward of 70 species of herons and their immediate allies are known, of which 14 inhabit North America. The bitterns (q.v.), with 10 tail-quills, form the sub-family Botaur itur, the herons and egrets (q.v.), with 12 tail quills, the Ardeinee. Egrets are simply small N hi te herons. The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) to which A. cinerea of Europe is closely related, inhabits all parts of North America and northern South America. It is a large bird with a length of about four and a spread of nearly six feet, and of beautiful slate blue color, with the long flowing plumes black It is to be found by the side of streams, lakes and the seashore, usually alone. Fish form the bulk of its food, but it also devours frogs, small reptiles, insects and almost any kind of animal which it can capture. It roams in search of food mostly in the morning and evening. The heronry, or breeding-place, is usually found among high trees, and the same breeding-place is used by successive generations if they arc unmolested; frequently several species of her ons consort together at a favorite breeding place. The large nest is made of twigs and sticks, and is lined with rushes, grass and various similar materials. The eggs, usually three or four in a nest, are of a fairly uniform greenish blue color. Many nests are usually found in one heronry, and sometimes the nests are built on the ground or on a cliff. The cry is a sort of crank? uttered in a hoarse voice. In the North the blue heron is migratory, elsewhere it is resident. The little blue heron (A. carttlea) is found in the eastern United States from the Middle States south ward and in the West Indies and Central America. It is scarcely more than one-half the size of A. herodias and exists in two color
phases, the one dark slate-blue with purplish reflections on the head and neck, the other white with traces of blue, especially constant on the unfeathered parts. This species formerly bred with other southern species in great heronries, most of which have been decimated by plume hunters.
The little green heron or fly-up-the-creek (Butorides vtrescens) ranges throughout tern. perate North America and somewhat beyond southward, breeding nearly everywhere. North ward it is migratory and is the familiar heron about the streams and ponds of the Middle and New England States, where it usually nests in pairs or small communities and mostly in thick bushes or cedar trees; in other localities it sometimes breeds with larger species in heron ries. The pale greenish elliptical eggs are from three to six in number. Its foods consist chiefly of small frogs, minnows and snakes, for which it searches by day as well as by night along the shallows of streams, where its harsh cry of alarm is often the first intimation of its pres ence. The name refers to the beautiful deep bronze green color of the upper parts.
The night-herons (Nyatcoras nervims, and N. violaceus), which are closely related to the N. grisea of Europe, are easily distinguished from other herons by the thick, stout beak. The former, known as the black-crowned night heron or squawk, is common throughout the United States and Canada in summer, and in the winter migrates far into South America. while the latter, or yellow-crowned species, is much less frequent and chiefly confined to the sea-coast of the warm parts of America. The squawk is about two feet long, the young brown ish, the adults deep green and blue-gray above with two or three very long filamentous white occipital plumes. The night-herons are more active after dark than any other species, and are seldom seen abroad, except in the dusk or on cloudy days. Many species of herons reside in the warm parts of Africa and Asia, among them being the largest of all the A. goliath Consult Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, (Water birds of North America) (1884); 'Journal of Ornithology) (1877) ; Job, (Amon( the Waterfowl) (1902). See Brrrintsr ; EGRET