thick. Eyes of moderate size. Body elongated, much depressed, of an
elliptical form viewed from above. Wings small. Feet short, rather
large, placed very far back; tibia almost entirely concealed; tarsus
short, exceedingly compressed, sharp-edged before and behind, covered
all over with reticulated angular scales; hind toe extremely small,
connected with the second by a very small membrane; the anterior toes
united by articulated membranes, the fourth or outer longest, the third
a little shorter, the second considerably shorter than the third, all
covered above with very numerous narrow scutella, the second toe with
a free two-lobed membrane; claws very small, depressed, blunt.
Plumage short and dense; of the head and neck very short, and blended;
of the lower parts blended, short, with slight gloss; of the upper
compact, glossy; the feathers in general oblong, those of the upper
parts with the extremity abrupt. Wings proportionally very small and
narrow, curved; primaries strong, tapering, the first longest, the
second almost as long, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries broad,
and rounded. Tail extremely short, rounded, of twenty feathers.
Bill black. Iris deep bright red. Feet, tarsi, and toes, of a
livid greyish-blue, their inner sides tinged with pale yellowish
flesh-colour; claws black, lighter at the base; webs brownish-black,
lighter in the middle. Head and neck dark greenish-blue, with
purple reflections. On the throat a small transverse patch of white,
longitudinally striated with dusky; about the middle of the neck,
two large patches of the same, separated in front to the distance
of an inch, behind continuous, but when the feathers are laid close,
appearing as if separated by a longitudinal dark band about half an
inch in breadth. The under parts glossy white, excepting the feathers
on the sides under the wing, which are black, each with two, three,
or four elliptical white spots, a faint dusky band across the vent,
the lower tail-coverts, which are brownish-black tipped with white,
and the axillar feathers and larger wing-coverts, which have a dusky
streak along the middle. The sides of the neck at its lower part are
longitudinally streaked with black and white, there being two oblong
spots of the latter on each feather towards the end. The upper parts
are glossy black, variegated with spots of white in regular transverse
slightly-curved lines having the convexity backwards. These spots
vary in form and size, being small and roundish towards the neck and
sides, larger and somewhat four-sided along the middle of the back:
largest and rectangular on the scapulars, very small and roundish on
the hind part of the back and tail-coverts. The upper part of the wing
is similar, with smallish spots; the alula and quill brownish-black,
a few of the inner secondaries only having two white spots at their
extremity. Tail brownish-black, paler at the tip.
Adult Male. Adult Male. Young.
Length to the end of tail, 32-7/8 36 31-1/4
claws, 39-1/4 40-1/2 36
wings, 31-1/4 — 29-3/4
carpal joint, 16-3/4 — 16-1/4
Extent of wings, 57-1/2 52 54-1/2
Wing from flexure, 15-1/2 — 14-1/4
Depth of body, — 6 —
Breadth, — 9-1/2 —
Bill along the ridge, — 3-4/12 —
Gape-line, — 4-1/2 —
Tarsus, — 3-5/12 —
Hind toe, — 9-1/2 —
Its claw, — 2/12 —
Outer toe and claw, — 4-1/2 —
Middle toe, — 4-1/4 —
Inner, — 3-9/12 —
Tail, — 29-1/12 —
Wing from flexure, — 14-1/2 —
Weight, 8-3/4 8-1/2 9
The female is generally smaller, but in all other respects resembles
the male. Weight 10 lb. 11 oz.
Young in winter. Plate, CCCVI. Fig. 2.
Bill pale yellowish-green, the ridge and tip of the upper
mandible dusky. Iris brown. Feet dusky externally, pale yellowish
flesh-colour internally, webs dusky, but yellow in the middle.
Claws yellowish-brown. All the upper parts are of a uniform dark
greyish-brown, each feather margined with lighter, the lower parts
white; the sides of the neck at the lower part whitish, streaked with
dusky; the sides dusky, without spots.
Towards spring the eye assumes a redder tint, and the plumage of the
upper parts gradually becomes spotted with white; and when the moult
is completed about the end of summer, the plumage is as in the adult,
although the tints are improved at each successive moult for several
years.
A fine male killed at Boston, 34 inches in length, with an alar extent
of 56, presents the following characters. There is a general layer
of subcutaneous adipose tissue, and the skin is very tenacious. The
external aperture of the ear roundish, very small, having a diameter of
only 2 lines. The tongue is 2 inches 1 line in length, fleshy, as high
as broad, slightly concave and longitudinally grooved above, tapering
to a horny point. On the palate are 6 rows of papillæ; the posterior
aperture of the nares is linear 2-1/2 inches in length. The aperture of
the glottis is 1/2 an inch long, with numerous papillæ along its sides
and behind. The pharynx is extremely dilatable, as is the œsophagus,
which is 17 inches long, passes along the right side of the neck,
together with the trachea, and when distended has an average diameter
of 2-1/2 inches, but on entering the thorax contracts to 1-1/2. The
structure of the œsophagus in birds may be very conveniently examined
in this species, the different layers being remarkably developed in
it. Properly speaking, it has only two coats,—the outer muscular, its
external layer composed of transverse or circular fibres, the internal
of equally distinct longitudinal fibres, which are not straight, but
irregularly undulated. The inner, or mucous coat, when contracted falls
into longitudinal plaits. The proventriculus is 2-3/4 inches long,
the glandules large, roundish, simple, and disposed in a continuous
belt. Over this part, the transverse muscular fibres are remarkably
developed. The right lobe of the liver is 5-3/4 inches long, the
left lobe 5-1/2. The heart is very large, of a broadly conical form,
3 inches long, 2-3/4 inches in breadth. The stomach is three inches
long, 2-1/2 in breadth, of an elliptical form, a little compressed;
its lateral muscles 9 lines in thickness, and composed of strong large
fasciculi; the tendons 1-1/2 inch in diameter; the cuticular lining
thick, its upper and lower parts marked with strong longitudinal ridges
having numerous transverse fissures; the grinding surfaces irregularly
wrinkled, with a deep fissure down the middle of each. The pylorus
is 8 lines in diameter when distended, and is destitute of valve, but
has a strong prominent rim. In the stomach were remains of fishes, and
some pebbles, chiefly quartz, the largest 4 lines long. The intestine
measures 6 feet 6 inches in length, and varies in diameter from 8 to
6 lines. The rectum is 3-1/2 inches long, the cloaca extremely large,
forming a cavity about 3 inches in diameter. The cæca are 1-3/4 inch
long, cylindrical, rounded at the extremity; one of them 7 lines, the
other 9 lines, in diameter.
The trachea, when moderately extended, measures 13-1/2 inches in
length, inconsiderably depressed, its transverse diameter at the upper
part 9-1/2 lines, at the lower 6-1/2 lines; the rings cartilaginous,
of moderate breadth, uniform, with a contraction in the middle before
and behind, their number 134, the four lowest united. The bronchi are
composed of about 20 narrow cartilaginous half rings. The contractor
muscles are very broad but thin, their fibres irregularly disposed in
front; they become thicker and narrower toward the lower part, and are
continued beyond the sterno-tracheal muscles, which come off from the
20th ring from the inferior larynx, to the membrane between the last
tracheal and first bronchial ring.
BLUE HERON.
_ARDEA CŒRULEA_, LINN.
PLATE CCCVII. ADULT MALE AND YOUNG.
Along with a few other Herons, this is, comparatively speaking,
confined within narrow limits along our southern coast in winter. It
occurs, however, in most parts of the Floridas, where it is a constant
resident, and whence, at the approach of summer, vast multitudes are
seen proceeding northward, in search of suitable places in which they
may rear their young in security. Many, however, go southward, beyond
the limits of the United States, and proceed coastwise to Texas and
Mexico to spend the winter, especially the younger birds, when still
in that singular white plumage which differs so much from that of the
young of every other known species of this genus, except that of the
Reddish Egret (_A. rufescens_). At New Orleans, where it arrives at the
same period, both from Mexico and the Floridas, its first appearance in
spring is about the beginning of March; at which time also multitudes
leave the Floridas on their way eastward, to settle in Georgia, the
Carolinas, and other States farther east, as far as Long Island in that
of New York. Beyond this, I believe, no birds of the species have been
met with. They rarely, if ever, proceed far inland, or leave the shores
of our large rivers and estuaries. On the Mississippi, the swamps and
lakes on the borders of which are so well adapted to the habits of
these birds, few individuals are ever seen above Natchez. About the
beginning of September, by which time the young are able to shift for
themselves, they return southward.
When in the Floridas, during winter, I observed that the Blue Herons
associated with other species, particularly the White Heron, _Ardea
alba_, and the Louisiana Heron, _Ardea Ludoviciana_, all of which were
in the habit of roosting together in the thick evergreen low bushes
that cover the central parts of the islands along the coast. Their
passage to and from their feeding places, is as regular as the rising
and setting of the sun, and, unless frequently disturbed, they betake
themselves every night to the same locality, and almost to the same
spot. In the morning, they rise with one accord from the roosts on
which they have been standing all night on one leg, the other drawn
up among the feathers of the abdomen, their neck retracted, and their
head and bill buried beneath their scapulars. On emerging from their
retreats, they at once proceed to some distant place in search of
food, and spend the day principally on the head waters of the rivers,
and the fresh-water lakes of the interior, giving a decided preference
to the soft mud banks, where small crabs or fiddlers are abundant, on
which they feed greedily, when the inland ponds have been dried up, and
consequently no longer supply them with such fishes as they are wont to
feed upon.
There, and at this season, Reader, you may see this graceful Heron,
quietly and in silence walking along the margins of the water,
with an elegance and grace which can never fail to please you. Each
regularly-timed step is lightly measured, while the keen eye of the
bird seeks for and watches the equally cautious movements of the
objects towards which it advances with all imaginable care. When at a
proper distance, it darts forth its bill with astonishing celerity, to
pierce and secure its prey; and this it does with so much precision,
that, while watching some at a distance with a glass, I rarely observed
an instance of failure. If fish is plentiful, on the shallows near
the shore, when it has caught one, it immediately swallows it, and
runs briskly through the water, striking here and there, and thus
capturing several in succession. Two or three dashes of this sort,
afford sufficient nourishment for several hours, and when the bird
has obtained enough it retires to some quiet place, and remains there
in an attitude of repose until its hunger returns. During this period
of rest, however, it is as watchful as ever, and on hearing the least
noise, or perceiving the slightest appearance of danger, spreads its
wings, and flies off to some other place, sometimes to a very distant
one. About an hour before sunset, they are again seen anxiously
searching for food. When at length satisfied, they rise simultaneously
from all parts of the marsh, or shore, arrange themselves into loose
bodies, and ascending to the height of fifty or sixty yards in the
air, fly in a straight course towards their roosting place. I saw very
few of these birds during the winter, on or near the river St John in
Florida; but on several occasions met with some on small ponds in the
pine barrens, at a considerable distance from any large stream, whither
they had been attracted by the great number of frogs.
The flight of the Blue Heron is rather swifter than that of the Egret,
_Ardea candidissima_, and considerably more so than that of the Great
Blue Heron, _Ardea Herodias_, but very similar to that of the Louisiana
Heron, _Ardea Ludoviciana_. When the bird is travelling, the motion
is performed by flappings in quick succession, which rapidly propel
it in a direct line, until it is about to alight, when it descends in
circular sailings of considerable extent towards the spot selected.
During strong adverse winds, they fly low, and in a continuous line,
passing at the necessary distance from the shores to avoid danger,
whether at an early or a late hour of the day. I recollect that once,
on such an occasion, when, on the 15th of March, I was in company with
my friend JOHN BACHMAN, I saw a large flock about sunset arising from
across the river, and circling over a large pond, eight miles distant
from Charleston. So cautious were they, that although the flock was
composed of several hundred individuals, we could not manage to get
so much as a chance of killing one. I have been surprised to see how
soon the Blue Herons become shy after reaching the districts to which
they remove for the purpose of breeding from their great rendezvous
the Floridas, where I never experienced any difficulty in procuring as
many as I wished. In Louisiana, on the other hand, I have found them
equally vigilant on their first arrival. On several occasions, when I
had placed myself under cover, to shoot at some, while on their way to
their roosts or to their feeding grounds, I found it necessary to shift
from one place to another, for if one of them had been fired at and had
fallen in a particular place, all that were in its company took care
not to pass again near it, but when coming up diverged several hundred
yards, and increased their speed until past, when they would assume
their more leisurely flappings. In South Carolina, where they are very
shy on their arrival, I have seen them fly off on hearing the very
distant report of a gun, and alight on the tops of the tallest trees,
where they would congregate in hundreds, and whence they would again
fly off on the least apprehension of danger. But when once these Herons
have chosen a place to nestle in, or reached one in which they bred the
preceding year, they become so tame as to allow you to shoot as many as
you are disposed to have.
While on Cayo Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, on the 10th of April 1837,
I observed large flocks of the Blue and Green Herons, _Ardea cœrulea_
and _A. virescens_, arriving from the westward about the middle of
the day. They flew at a considerable height, and came down like so
many hawks, to alight on the low bushes growing around the sequestered
ponds; and this without any other noise than the rustling of their
wings as they glided through the air towards the spot on which they at
once alighted. There they remained until sunset, when they all flew
off, so that none were seen there next day. This shews that although
these species migrate both by day and night, they are quite diurnal
during the period of their residence in any section of the country
which they may have chosen for a season. It is more than probable that
it has been from want of personal knowledge of the habits of these
birds, that authors have asserted that all Herons are nocturnally
inclined. This certainly is by no means the case, although they find
it advantageous to travel by night during their migrations, which is
a remarkable circumstance as opposed to their ordinary habits. In the
instance above mentioned, I found the birds remarkably gentle, which
was probably owing to fatigue.
The Blue Heron breeds earlier or later according to the temperature
of the district to which it resorts for that purpose, and therefore
earlier in Florida, where, however, considerable numbers remain, during
the whole year than in other parts of the United States. Thus I have
found them in the southern parts of that country, sitting on their
eggs, on the 1st of March, fully a month earlier than in the vicinity
of Bayou Sara, on the Mississippi, where they are as much in advance
of those which betake themselves, in very small numbers indeed, to
our Middle Districts, in which they rarely begin to breed before the
fifteenth of May.
The situations which they choose for their nests are exceedingly
varied. I have found them sitting on their eggs on the Florida Keys,
and on the islands in the Bay of Galveston, in Texas, in nests placed
amidst and upon the most tangled cactuses, so abundant on those curious
isles, on the latter of which the climbing Rattlesnake often gorges
itself with the eggs of this and other species of Heron, as well as
with their unfledged young. In the Lower parts of Louisiana, it breeds
on low bushes of the water-willow, as it also does in South Carolina;
whereas, on the islands on the coast of New Jersey, and even on the
mainland of that State, it places its nest on the branches of the cedar
and other suitable trees. Wherever you find its breeding place, you
may expect to see other birds in company with it, for like all other
species, excepting perhaps the Louisiana Heron, it rarely objects to
admit into its society the Night Heron, the Yellow-crowned Heron, or
the White Egret.
The heronries of the southern portions of the United States are often
of such extraordinary size as to astonish the passing traveller. I
confess that I myself might have been as sceptical on this point as
some who, having been accustomed to find in all places the Heron to
be a solitary bird, cannot be prevailed on to believe the contrary,
had I not seen with my own eyes the vast multitudes of individuals
of different species breeding together in peace in certain favourable
localities. Such persons may be excused from giving that credit to my
account of the Passenger Pigeon which posterity will, I trust, accord
to it.
The nest of the Blue Heron, wherever situated, is loosely formed of dry
sticks, sometimes intermixed with green leaves of various trees, and
with grass or moss, according as these materials happen to be plentiful
in the neighbourhood. It is nearly flat, and can scarcely be said to
have a regular lining. Sometimes you see a solitary nest fixed on a
cactus, a bush, or a tree; but a little beyond this you may observe
from six to ten, placed almost as closely together as you would have
put them had you measured out the space necessary for containing them.
Some are seen low over the water, while others are placed high; for,
like the rest of its tribe, this species is rather fond of placing its
tenement over or near the liquid element.
The eggs are usually three, rarely four; and I have never found a nest
of this species containing five eggs, as is stated by WILSON, who,
probably found a nest of the Green Heron containing that number among
others of the present species. They measure an inch and three quarters
in length, by an inch and a quarter in breadth, being about the size
of those of _Ardea candidissima_, though rather more elongated, and
precisely of the same colour.
The young bird is at first almost destitute of feathers, but scantily
covered with yellowish-white down. When fully fledged, its bill and
legs are greenish-black, and its plumage pure white, or slightly
tinged with cream-colour, the tips of the three outer primaries light
greyish-blue. Of this colour the bird remains until the breeding
season, when, however, some individuals exhibit a few straggling pale
blue feathers. When they have entered on their second year, these young
birds become spotted with deeper blue on some parts of the body, or on
the head and neck, thus appearing singularly patched with that colour
and pure white, the former increasing with the age of the bird in so
remarkable a manner, that you may see specimens of these birds with
portions even of the pendant feathers of their head or shoulders so
marked. And these are produced by _full moultings_, by which I mean
the unexpected appearance, as it were, of feathers growing out of the
skin of the bird coloured entirely blue, as is the case in many of our
land birds. In all these stages of plumage, and from the first spring
after birth, the young birds breed with others, as is equally the case
with _Ardea rufescens_. You may see a pure white individual paired with
one of a full blue colour, or with one patched with blue and white.
The young, after leaving their parents, remain separate from the old
birds until the next breeding season. At no period can the young of
this species be confounded with, or mistaken for that of the _Ardea
candidissima_, by a person really acquainted with these birds, for the
Blue Heron is not only larger than the latter, but the very colour of
its feet and legs is perfectly distinctive. Indeed, during the time
when the young Blue Heron is quite white (excepting on the tips of
the outer primaries), it would be easier to confound it with the young
of the Reddish Egret, _Ardea rufescens_, than with that of any other,
were the feathers of its hind head and neck of the same curious curled
appearance as those of that species.
My friend JOHN BACHMAN informs me, that in South Carolina, this species
not unfrequently breeds in the company of the Louisiana Heron, the
nests and eggs of which, he adds, are very similar. He has specimens
of these birds in all the different stages which I have described. At
New Orleans, the Blue Herons, during the transition of their plumage
from white to blue, are called “Egrettes folles,” or foolish Egrets,
on account of their unusual tameness. My friend BACHMAN and I, shot,
on the 6th and 9th of April, several specimens spotted with blue
feathers, and having their crests and trains similarly mixed, although
of full length; but in most of the specimens obtained, the white was
still prevalent. I have shot some in Louisiana, in autumn, in the same
curious dress.
This species, though larger than the Snowy Heron, _Ardea candidissima_,
is considerably inferior to it in courage; and I was much amused as
well as surprised, when at Galveston Bay, on the 24th of April 1837,
to see one of that species alight near a Purple Heron, attack it, and
pursue it as far as I could follow them with my eyes. When the Blue
Herons are on the sea-coast they not unfrequently repose on the large
mud or sand bars, at some distance from the adjacent marshes; but they
generally prefer roosting on trees or bushes, when there are any in
their neighbourhood. The Creoles of Louisiana not unfrequently eat the
flesh of this species, and although they by no means consider it equal
to that of the Night Heron, some of them have assured me that it is not
bad food. Like other birds of this family, they become larger with age,
and the male is usually somewhat superior in size to the female; but,
with this exception, no difference can be perceived in the external
appearance of the sexes.
ARDEA CŒRULEA, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. 1. p. 238.—_Lath._
Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 689.
ARDEA CŒRULEA, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis, p. 300.
BLUE HERON, ARDEA CŒRULEA, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p.
117. pl. 62. fig. 3. Adult.
BLUE HERON, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 58.
Adult Male in full plumage. Plate CCCVI. Fig. 1.
Bill much longer than the head, rather slender, very slightly decurved,
compressed, tapering to a point. Upper mandible with the dorsal line
nearly straight for two-thirds of its length, then slightly decurved,
the ridge convex, broad at the base, gradually narrowed to the point;
a groove from the base to near the end, the sides convex beneath, the
edges thin and sharp, with a slight notch close to the tips. Nostrils
basal, linear, longitudinal, with a membrane above and behind. Lower
mandible with the angle extremely narrow and elongated, the dorsal
line beyond it ascending and almost straight, the sides sloping
outwards, and flattened, the edges sharp and slightly inflected, the
tip acuminate.