sh Provinces.

This is the smallest of our Herons, and is well known all over the
country. Sometimes they breed in numbers in rookeries, in company with
the larger Herons, but in most sections of the country they will be
found nesting, one or two pairs together, along the border of some swamp
or stream. They have a greater diversity of building sites, than do any
of the other Herons and frequently nest a long ways from water. Their
nests may be found in alders, birches or even apple trees. It is the
usual Heron type of platform, upon which the three to six eggs are laid.
They are a pale greenish blue in color, and measure 1.45 x 1.10.
Data.--Avery's Island, Louisiana, April 10, 1894. 5 eggs on a platform
of twigs placed in a willow tree growing on the edge of a pond.
Collected by E. A. McIlhenny.

[Illustration 126: Pale bluish green.]
[Illustration: Little Blue Heron. Green Heron.]
[Illustration: Light bluish green.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]

Page 125

201a. FRAZAR'S GREEN HERON. _Butorides virescens frazari._

A darker variety found in Lower California; nesting the same as the
common species.

201b. ANTHONY'S GREEN HERON. _Butorides virescens anthonyi._

A lighter, desert form found in the arid portions of the interior of
southwestern United States and Mexico.

[Illustration 127: NEST AND EGGS OF GREEN HERON.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]

Page 126

202. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON. _Nycticorax nycticorax naevius_.

Range.--North America from southern British Provinces, southward;
winters along the Gulf coast and beyond.

A well known bird, often called "quawk" from the sound of its note
frequently heard in the evening. While, in some localities, only a few
pairs of these birds are found nesting together, most of them gather
together into large colonies during the breeding season. In New England
they generally select a remote pine grove as their breeding grounds. If
not disturbed they will return to this same place each year. Their nests
are built of sticks and lined with small twigs, and are placed well up
towards the tops of the trees.

Frequently several nests will be found in the same tree, and I have
counted as many as fifty nests in view at the same time. In large swamps
in the south they generally nest at a low elevation, while in the
marshes of Wisconsin and Minnesota, large colonies of them nest on the
ground, making their nest of rushes. Like all Heronries, those of this
speci