as made of grasses and rushes placed in the cane
two feet above the water.

[Illustration 122: Pale bluish gray.]
[Illustration: Least Bittern. Cory's Least Bittern.]
[Illustration: deco.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]

Page 121

192. GREAT WHITE HERON. _Ardea occidentalis._

Range.--This species occurs in the United States regularly, only in the
southern parts of Florida. It is a resident of the West Indies.

This large white Heron is about the same size as the Great Blue Heron;
it has none of the slender plumes found on the smaller White Herons.
These birds are not uncommon in southern Florida, especially on the
Keyes, where they build their nests in company with Great Blue Herons.
Their nesting habits and eggs are very similar to those of the Blue
Heron. Size of eggs 2.25 x 1.80. Data.--Outside of Torch Key, Florida,
June 16, 1899. Nest a platform of sticks about five feet from the
ground, in a mangrove tree. Three eggs. Collector, O. Tollin.

194. GREAT BLUE HERON. _Ardea herodias herodias._

Range.--Nearly the whole of North America, except the extreme north;
resident south of the middle portions of the United States and migratory
north of there.

This handsome Heron is about four feet in length. Its general color is a
bluish gray, relieved by a black crest, primaries and patches on the
sides, and a white crown. In the south they breed in large colonies,
often in company with many other species. In the northern portions of
their range they breed singly or in companies of under a hundred
individuals. They generally place their rude platforms of sticks well up
in trees, near ponds, swamps or rivers, but in the most northerly parts
of their range, where trees are scarce, they often build on the ground.
Unless they are disturbed, they return to the same breeding grounds,
year after year. They lay from three to five eggs of a greenish blue
color. Size 2.50 x 1.50. Data.--Duck Island, Maine, May 20, 1883. Three
eggs. Nest of sticks and twigs, about fifteen feet from the ground.
Collector, R. B. Gray.

194a. NORTHWEST COAST HERON. _Ardea herodias fannini._

This darker sub-species of the breeding is found along the Pacific
coast, north to Sitka, Alaska. Its nests and eggs do not differ from the
former species.

[Illustration 123: Great White Heron. Great Blue Heron.]
[Illustration: deco.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]

Page 122

194b. WARD'S HERON. _Ardea herodias wardi._

This sub-specie