60 BLUB HERON.
with some: on »mail ponds in the ¡»inc. uiutous, at a considerable disa^
nce from any large stream, whither they had been attracted f p the
great number of frogs.
The flight of the Blue H eron is rather swifter than that of the Egret,
Ardea candidissimay and considerably more so than that of the Groat Blue
Heron, Ardea Herodias, hut very similar to that of the Louisiana Heron,
Ardea Ludmicicma. 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 dess|*ds fe circular sailings of
considerably extent towards thg 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 ant early or a late;
hour of the day. - X recollect that once, on such an occasion, when, on
the 15th of March, I was in company with my friemi John Hachmax, I
saw a large;flock about sunset arising from across the river, and circling
over a large pondsieight mites,.;distant, from Charleston.: Ho cautious
wore they, that although the. flock, was composed of several hundred individuals,
wi' could not manage to :get so niuoltits a chance of killing
one. I have been surprised.-to sec how soon the Blue 1 ierons became
shy after reaching' the district^ ,to which they remove for the purpose
of breeding from their. great rendezvous the .Florida*, Avhere 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, ail that were 411», its company took care notrto: 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,'verylshy.,on their arrival,
,I. luive seen them fly off on hearing the wry distant report of a gun,
and alight on. the tops of the tallest tree® 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, pr 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.
BLUB HERON. 61
While on Cayo Island, in the Gulf of Mexicoy on the 10th of April
1837, I observed large flocks of the Blue and Green Herons, Ardea
ewndeu and A. mremm, arriving: from the westward about the middle
Of the day. They tew at a, considérable 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 those species migrate both by day arid 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 îassérted that all Herons are nocturnally
inclined. This certainly is by no means the ease,' although they
find it advantageous1!!® travel Wjç Étight 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 » » probably owing to fatigue: 1
The Blue Heron breeds earlier or later according to the tempera,
ture of the district to which it resorts'for that purpose, and therefore
earlier in Florida, where, however, considerable numbers remain, during
the wholly ear than in other parts of the United States. Thus I have
found them in the southern parts of that country, sitting on their eggs,
%n thé 1st of March, fully a- month earlier than in thé vicinity of
Bayou Sara, on the Mississippi, where they are as much in advance of
those' which betikii themselves, in very small numbers indeed, to our
Middl® '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 islandg$l|the Bay Of Galveston, indexas, in nests placed
amidst and .upon the most tangled cactuses, so abundant on those curious
isles', on the latter of which thé climbing Rattlesnake often
gorges'itself with the eggs of this and other species of Heron, as well
as with their unfledged1 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