. Diseases and enemies of poultry . or in the night, they go out, like the Owls,in quest of food, which they secure by rapid and dexterousthrusts of their long, spear-like bills. Birds of this family subsist chiefly on various kinds of fishes,frogs, snakes; and they also eat other kinds of animal food,such as large insects, field mice, lizards, toads, cray-fish,leeches, etc., and some of the birds of this group eat rats aswell as the young of birds of other species which breed abouttheir favorite feeding resorts. The Great Blue Heron, theNight Heron and the Great Bittern all, it is asserted, h
. Diseases and enemies of poultry . or in the night, they go out, like the Owls,in quest of food, which they secure by rapid and dexterousthrusts of their long, spear-like bills. Birds of this family subsist chiefly on various kinds of fishes,frogs, snakes; and they also eat other kinds of animal food,such as large insects, field mice, lizards, toads, cray-fish,leeches, etc., and some of the birds of this group eat rats aswell as the young of birds of other species which breed abouttheir favorite feeding resorts. The Great Blue Heron, theNight Heron and the Great Bittern all, it is asserted, have beenobserved to catch ducklings of both wild and domesticatedspecies. Last year a farmer near Harrisburg shot a GreatBlue Heron which he said had killed several young chickenswhich were about a carp pond near his spring house. The damage which Herons or Bitterns do to wild birds ordomesticated fowls is very insignificant; indeed, it is very sel-dom that a Heron or Bittern attempts to capture the yoimg-of any feathered GREAT BLUE HERON, 305 GREAT BLUE lieiodias. DESCRIPTION. Adult.—Bill about six inches long, chiefly yellow; dusky onculmen; eyes yellow; legs and feet blackish, yellowish abouttoes; lores greenish-yellow or bluish. The color of bill, legsand lores vary greatly not only with age and season but alsowith individuals. The male, larger than female, is about fourfeet long and about six feet from tip to tip. Forehead andcentral portion of crown white, surrounded on sides and be-hind with black; long occipital feathers black; neck chieflybrownish-gray; feathers on middle (in front) of lower two-thirds of neck, with a showy streak of black, white and rusty,chin and upper part of neck in front white. Tibiae (thighs)and edge of wing i-eddish brown; upper parts and tail lightbluish slate color; long scapular feathers and long stragglingfeathers on lower neck. The young are different in many re-spects from the above, but can always be known by their
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectmam
