NOBTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 119 



stout bush, or the horizontal Umb of a tree if sufficiently strong, and some are 

 within 2 feet of the ground, others 8 to 12 feet. One nesting place visited last 

 season was a buttonwood island. During its years of occupancy the birds had 

 broken off every limb and twig that could be used for nest building until now 

 nothing but stut)s remain. This island contained 11 nests, all of which were 

 made of cypress sticks that had been brought at least 3 miles, that being the 

 nearest cypress. Nests are usually from 30 to 40 inches in diameter, and 10 to 

 14 inches deep, of large sticks as a base, smaller ones toward the top, and a few 

 twigs with green leaves, and some grass as a lining. 



In Florida we found Ward herons breeding in small willow ham- 

 mocks on the prairies of Brevard County and in the larger willows 

 along the St. Johns E.i^^er, where nests with newly-hatched young 

 were found on April 21, 1902. The nests were bulky affairs, made 

 of large sticks and were placed in the largest willows, about 10 or 12 

 feet from the ground. On the Florida Keys we found them breeding 

 with the great white herons in small numbers. Here their nests were 

 built in the red mangroves or on the tops of bushes, never more than 

 half a dozen or so in a group. 



In Texas, in 1923, we saw numerous small colonies scattered along 

 the coast, in the live-oak mottes and in small clumps of bushes on 

 the coastal marshes or prairies. On a small island in the Cedar 

 Lakes, on the intercoastal canal, we found a colony of 13 pairs on 

 May 7. It was a low island overgrown with grass, cow parsnip, sun- 

 flowers, clumps of other yellow flowers, and coarse herbage; the nests 

 were all on the ground and were made of sticks, that must have been 

 brought from a distance, and were lined with the rootlets of the island 

 vegetation. The nests measured from 30 to 34 inches in outside 

 diameter; in some nests the eggs or young were practically on the 

 ground; other nests were built up as high as 14 or 16 inches. Two 

 nests contained eggs, but the others held young of various ages. 

 There was also a black vulture's nest, with two eggs in it, among the 

 herons' nests. I imagine that the vultures counted on finding a 

 convenient food supply. 



As we passed Dressing Point Island, near the upper end of Mata- 

 gorda Bay, on May 8, we saw the heads of some large herons above 

 a clump of bushes in the center of the island, so landed to explore it. 

 This is a large, flat, grassy island, mostly dry, covered with a rank 

 growth of tall tufted grass and coarse herbage, with a few low bushes 

 and prickly-pear cacti near the center. Mottled ducks and willets 

 were nesting in the grass and a large flock of black-crowned night 

 herons rose from their nests on the ground. A colony of about a 

 dozen pairs of Ward herons had their nests in the center, built on the 

 ground or on the low prickly pears. Some of the ground nests were 

 low and flat, not much more than a rim of sticks; others were built up 

 to 32 or 36 inches in height and and were from 28 to 32 inches in 

 diameter. They were made of large sticks and were lined with fine 



