Notes of the Food of the Black Crowned Night Heron in Captivity

While studying the bird life of Eagle Lake in Hancock County, Iowa, we captured and brought alive to Cedar Rapids an adult Black Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax Nycticorax Naevius.) It was kept at Bever Park for observation, and on account of the scarcity of frogs and fish, various kinds of food were presented to it, among which were some white rats that, being prolific, were used by the keeper as food for the caged hawks and owls. The Heron seemed to take unhesitatingly to these, and would kill and eat a rat with apparent relish