_Crab-catcher._
_Herodias virescens._
_Ardea virescens_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 333.
_Herodias virescens_, +Bonap.+
[102] Length 18 inches, expanse 25¹⁄₂, flexure 7¹⁄₄, tail 2⁷⁄₁₀,
rictus 3, tarsus 2²⁄₁₀, middle toe 1⁸⁄₁₀. Intestine 44¹⁄₂ inches,
very slender.
This richly-coloured species is found wherever there is running water;
and most abundantly, where in the plains the sluggish streams expand
into broad reedy pools, or spongy marshes. Though perfectly solitary in
its habits, one may frequently see in such situations a dozen within a
quarter of a mile; and as we walk on, another and another long neck is
suddenly reared above the grass, to gaze at the intruder and estimate
the danger. Usually they are too wary to allow of a near approach; but
this varies according to the locality; for while, in lonely places, as
Paradise marshes, one may easily get within shot, in such streams as
Bluefields and Robin’s River, where persons are continually passing, an
approach within a long distance instantly puts the watchful bird upon
the wing. In the former case it alights again immediately, but in the
latter it does not stay its flight, until it gains the shelter of the
woods, or a distant part of the stream. But in the morning, as soon as
its appetite has been sated, its stomach gorged with prey, it often
rests on some dry tree in the vicinity, whence it is less willing to
fly, and may often be approached and shot with ease.
Near where the Sweet River roars and boils beneath the bridge, on the
road from Bluefields to Savanna le Mar, there runs along by the side of
the road, a narrow stream with grassy banks. As I was riding by, one
day in July, I observed one of these Bitterns on the bank. It was not
sufficiently alarmed to take flight as I passed, and I therefore drew
up under the shade of a cocoa-nut palm on the other side to watch it.
A few minutes it remained in suspicious stillness, eyeing me askant.
At length with much deliberation it walked towards the edge, where it
stood, intently watching the grass and short reeds that fringed the
side. Presently it picked something from a stalk of grass, which it
swallowed; it then waded slowly into the stream till the water reached
above the tarsus, and there stood gazing motionless, except that now
and then it suddenly altered the direction of its glance. A quick
stroke of its powerful beak brought up something of considerable size,
with which it walked ashore; it dropped its prey on the grass, and
began to pick from it. Wishing to know what it was, I drove the bird
away, but it was cunning enough to pick up its booty and carry it off,
so that I was none the wiser. It was probably a root of some aquatic
plant. The Bittern, however, soon returned, and taking its former
place, resumed the occupation of picking insects from the grass, that
grew in the stream. As it walked hither and thither, the beautiful
chestnut neck was alternately thrown forward and bridled up, with a
pretty affectation, and the short tail was depressed and agitated with
a rapid perpendicular vibration. I would have observed it longer, but a
rude group of negroes passing, it flew away over the adjacent logwood
bushes.
The flight of all the Herons is flagging and laborious: I have been
amused to see a Humming-bird chasing a Heron; the minuteness and arrowy
swiftness of the one contrasting strangely with the expanse of wing and
unwieldy motion of the other. The little aggressor appears to restrain
his powers in order to annoy his adversary, dodging around him and
pecking at him like one of the small frigates of Drake or Frobisher
peppering one of the unwieldy galleons of the ill-fated Armada. Now and
then, however, I have noticed this and other species of Heron intermit
this laborious motion, and sail swiftly and gracefully on balanced
wings, particularly when inclining their flight towards the earth.
When wounded, so as to be unable to fly, the Green Bittern seeks
to escape by running, which it does swiftly, the neck projected
horizontally, uttering a low cluck at intervals. Its ordinary call,
often uttered from the morasses and mangrove swamps, is a loud scream,
harsh and guttural.
In each specimen that I dissected, the stomach was enormous, occupying
the whole length and breadth of the body; it usually is found distended
with the larvæ of _libelluladæ_ and _dyticidæ_, and with freshwater
prawns. The latter lie in the stomach always in the same way; viz.
doubled up, the head and tail pointing forwards, the only way in which
they could be swallowed with safety.
In all the _Ardeadæ_ that I have examined, there are on the breast two
masses of filamentous down, commonly of a pale buff hue, lying just
over the furcula; beneath which, attached to the inner surface of the
skin, are two flat glandular bodies of singular appearance. A similar
tuft and structure are found just above the tail. With their object I
am quite unacquainted.