mains on the low swampy lands along the coast. It is rare to see one
farther up the Mississippi than the mouth of the Arkansas, to which a few
are at times induced to go while rambling along the great stream. I
never saw one, or heard of any, whilst in Kentucky, and I doubt much
if they are ever seen in the upper parts of the State of Tennessee. The
distance of a hundred miles from the tide-mark appears to be the farthest
extent of their inland movements. On the other hand, they are fond of
resorting to the islands along the coast, on many of which they breed.
At the approach of spring, great numbers of those which have wintered
far south, leave their places of sojourn and migrate eastward, although
probably an equal number remain in the low lands of Louisiana and the
Floridas during the whole year. There, indeed, I have found them with
eggs in April and May, and as young birds just fledged were very abundant
at the same places, I concluded that these eggs were of the second
laying. By the middle of March, the number of Night Herons is
seen to increase daily in the Carolinas, and, about a month later, some
make their appearance in the Middle Districts, where many remain and
breed. They are not abundant in the State of New York, are seen sparingly
breeding in Massachusetts, while only a few proceed to Maine, and
farther eastward they are looked upon as a great curiosity. In Nova
Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador, this species is quite unknown.
Some European writers have alleged, that the Night Heron is scarce
in the United States, and of rare occurrence even in the southern parts.
I wish these people had been with me and my friend BACHMAN, or with
some of the many hundred persons who reside in the Southern Districts,
or have travelled from Louisiana to North Carolina. How strange it
would have appeared to such assertors of notions, to have seen a boatload
of Night Herons shot in the course of a few hours, and that too in
the winter season.
Excepting while breeding, this species is extremely shy and wary, especially
the adults. To approach them from a distance after they have
seen you, is no easy task. They seem to know the distance at which
your gun can injure them, they watch all your movements, and at the
proper moment leave their perches. Should you chance to crack a stick
while advancing towards them, they start at once, give a few raps with
their wings in the manner of the Common Pigeon, and fly off as if delighted
at your disappointment. On the contrary, you may shoot them
with ease, if you lie in wait near the places to which they resort to roost
by day, and at which they generally arrive singly, or a few at a time,
when, from your place of concealment among the trees, you may kill them
the moment they alight over your head, and at a short distance. In this
manner I have known forty or fifty procured by two sportsmen in the
course of about two hours. You may also not unfrequently shoot them
at any hour of the day, by starting them from secluded feeding-grounds,
and thus I have shot a good many in different parts of the United States,
and even in the Middle Districts. They are, however, rarely shot whilst
on the ground, their hearing being still more acute than that of the American
Bitteni; which prefers squatting in the grass to flying off, when any
noise is heard, whereas the Night Heron rises immediately.
This species breeds in communities around the stagnant ponds, either
near rice plantations or in the interior of retired and secluded swamps, as
well as on some of the sea islands covered with evergreen trees. Their
heronries are formed either in low bushes, or in middle-sized or tall trees,
as seems most convenient or secure. In the Floridas, they are partial to
the mangroves that overhang the salt-water; in Louisiana, they prefer the
cypresses; and in the Middle States, they find the cedars most suitable.
In some breeding-places within a few miles of Charleston, which I visited
in company with my friend JOHN BACHMAN, the nests were placed on low
bushes, and crowded together, some within a yard of the ground, others
raised seven or eight feet above it, many being placed flat on the branches,
while others were in the forks. Hundreds of them might be seen at once,
as they were built on the side of the bushes fronting the water. Those
which I found in the Floridas were all placed on the south-west sides of
mangrove islands, but were farther apart from each other, some being only
about a foot above high-water mark, while others were in the very tops
of the trees, which, however, scarcely exceeded twenty feet in height. In
some inland swamps in Louisiana, I saw them placed on the tops of tall
cypress trees about a hundred feet high, and along with those of Ardca
Herodias, A. alba, and some Anhingas. In the Jerseys I have found the
Night Herons breeding on water oaks and cedars ; and my friend THOMAS
NUTTALL informs me, that " in a very secluded and marshy island,
in Fresh Pond, near Boston, there likewise exists one of these ancient
heronries; and though the birds have been frequently robbed of their
eggs, in great numbers, by mischievous boys, they still lay again immediately
after, and usually succeed in raising a second brood." The
same accurate observer remarks, that " about the middle of October, the