Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (September 1915): Thirteenth EditionHornaday, William T. (William Temple)
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Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (September 1915): Thirteenth Edition
Hornaday, William T. (William Temple)
New York Zoological Park
This Great Blue Heron is the largest and most noteworthy bird of our
northern marshes. Thanks to the fact that it bears no desirable
“plumes,” and its flesh is not edible, it has been permitted to live.
When not molested, it becomes quite trustful, and when wading along a
shore, fishing for minnows, it affords for the field-glass or the camera
a very interesting subject. In summer these birds are quite numerous in
the marshes along the Shrewsbury River, between Sandy Hook and Long
Branch, and they are an unfailing source of interest to excursionists.
It is sincerely to be hoped that the evil eye of “Dame Fashion” will not
fall upon this bird, and cause its extermination.
The Great White Heron, (_Ardea americana_), is taller than the great
blue heron, and it is the largest of all the white herons and egrets.
Like the whooping crane, it is now a bird of such exceeding rarity that
the procuring of a specimen may be counted a stroke of good fortune. In
eight years the Zoological Park has secured only three specimens, all of
which came from southern Florida.
The Little Blue Heron, (_Florida caerulea_).—The immature birds of this
species are snowy white, and so closely resemble snowy herons of the
same age, that only one well acquainted with both can distinguish
between them. They are, however, separately recognized by the fact that
the snowy heron has black legs, and a black bill, whereas the legs and
bill of the Little Blue Heron are pale yellow. This species is still
common in some parts of its Florida home, and occasionally a specimen
strays as far north as Staten Island.
The Louisiana Heron, (_Hydranassa tricolor ruficollis_), once very
numerous in Florida, is still found there, but in greatly reduced
numbers. It ranges from Central America and the West Indies northward to
the Gulf States, and occasionally to Long Island. The general coloring
is dark blue, but a prominent distinguishing character is the chestnut
brown on the sides of the neck.
The Black-Crowned Night Heron, (_Nycticorax nycticorax naevius_), is one
of the commonest herons about New York City and occasionally nests in
the Park itself. It breeds in large colonies, and feeds chiefly at
night. Its note is a hoarse _quok_, very much like the bark of a dog.
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