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GREAT BLUE HERON PLATE FROM STUDERS BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA
This is an original old colored plate from the famous book on North American birds by Jacob Henry Studer (1840-1904). BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA, New York: Published under the auspices of the Natural Science Association of America, 1903. There were over 100 full-color plates in the imperial quarto volume of which this is PLATE LXXX – Great Blue Heron.
This beautiful chromolithographed print measures 11 5/8” x about 14 ˝”. A little ragged along the top edge where it was detached from the volume, but otherwise the print is in quite good condition as shown in scan. Ready for framing & display. This print also pictures the
White Ibis and the Scarlet Ibis.
The information that appeared in Studer’s book with this plate is as follows:
PLATE LXXX.
Great Blue Heron. (Ardea Aerodias.)
Fig. 1.
Most all Herons are large and ungainly birds; and they are met with in most parts of the globe. In North America the Blue Heron is restricted to the warmer parts, and at the approach
of winter, or when their supply of food falls short, it migrates into the tropical parts of the continent. Swamps, shallow rivers, and pools are their favorite haunts, and in these they quietly stand, with their necks drawn down between their shoulders, watching the approach of a fish, upon which they suddenly dart, and seizing it in the beak, swallow it in an instant. They also consume small quadrupeds, frogs, and a variety of insects.
Coues says: " No species of Heron has a wider distribution in North America, and only the Bittern equals it in the extent of its dispersion. It appears to be more common, however, in the United States than farther north, and is resident south of the middle districts. Herons, as a group, are rather southern birds; only these two just named (Glossy or Bay Ibis; Great Blue
Heron) proceed beyond the United States, and most, if not all, are more abundant in the southern portions of the Union. They are particularly numerous in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, where they breed by thousands, and in which districts several species occur that are not found in corresponding latitudes in the West. On the Pacific side we have no peculiar species, all that occur there being of wide distribution."
Of the nest the same writer says: " Wherever placed, on tree, bush, or rock, the nest of the Heron is a large bed of twigs, more or less matted together with grasses and weeds, some two feet in diameter and about one-third as high. Two or three eggs are laid, probably never more. They measure 2.50 by x.50, and are rather narrowly elliptical, with both ends of about the same shape; the color is a pale, dull, greenish blue, varying in shade in different specimens, but always uniform on the same egg.'
White Ibis. (Ibis alba.) Fig. 2.
Scarlet Ibis. (Ibis rubra.) Fig. 3.
The habits and characteristics of these two species are about the same. Their native haunts are Central America and the northern portions of South America as far as the Amazon; from thence they extend their migrations in summer into the most southern portions of the United States, rarely ever proceeding farther north than Carolina. Along the borders of the sea and the shores of adjacent rivers, these birds are to be met with, from which they seldom extend
far inland. Mr. Bartram says: "I They fly in large flocks or squadrons, evening and morning, to and from their feeding-places or roosts, and are usually called ' Spanish Curlews.' They subsist principally on cray-fish, whose cells they probe, and, with their strong pinching bills, drag them out." Fry and aquatic insects also constitute a part of their food.
The flight of these beautiful species is said to be lofty and strong, and as they pass through the air they utter a loud and peculiar cry. Their flesh is not held in very high esteem, although it is sometimes eaten.
According to Sagra, the eggs, three or four in number, are laid upon the ground, and have a greenish shell. Schomburghk states that young and adult birds do not associate with each other, but unite in distinct bands.
The White Ibis is about twenty-three inches long, and thirtyseven in extent. The Scarlet Ibis has about the same measurement.
Buyer pays $5.00 postage & handling in US, plus USPS insurance.
VA residents add 5% sales tax to selling price.
Price= $75.00
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