NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 137 



egrets had built their uests usually at a point where several stout limbs con- 

 verged. Two or three pairs generally occupied a tree, but no nests of other 

 species of herons were seen among the little colony, which occupied only a very 

 small area. They seem to prefer living apart, at least they appear not to crave 

 such close association with other herons as do the little blue and Louisiana. 

 Although we made no very careful or accurate count of the number of pairs nesting 

 here we estimated it not to exceed 15. 



The nest is a very bulky platform of stout twigs substantially interlaced, 

 nevertheless the structures can be pulled apart with suprisingly little effort. 

 Any limb or crotch capable of supporting a nest was utilized, most of them being 

 8 or 10 feet above the surface of the water. We examined about 10 nests, all 

 containing three eggs apparently only a few days incubated. 



One of the most interesting rookeries of American egrets is still 

 flourishing and probably increasing under the protection of a sports- 

 man's club in South Carolina. This has been visited and attract- 

 ively described by Herbert K. Job (1905) and Dr. Frank M. Chapman 

 ( 1 908a) . The latter writes : 



For 2 miles we paddled thus in a bewildering maze of sunlit, buttressed cypress 

 trunks with shiny, round-headed "knees" protruding from the water, and with 

 every branch heavily moss drapped. The dark waters showed no track, the 

 brown trunks no blaze. We seemed to be voyaging into the unknown. 



Finally, the environs were passed and we now approached the most densely 

 populated part of the rookery. Thousands of Louisiana and little blue herons 

 left their nests in the lower branches and bushes, their croaking chorus of alarm 

 punctuated by the louder more raucous squawks of hundreds of egrets, as they 

 flew from their nests in the upper branches. It was a confusing and fascinating 

 scene, an admirable climax to the passage through the weird forest. The little 

 blue and Louisiana herons nested at an average height of 6 to 8 feet. One bush 

 held no less than 32 nests, all of which contained eggs, few young of either species 

 having yet been hatched. The egrets nested at an average height of 40 feet. 

 Eggs were in some nests, while in others there were nearly fledged young. While 

 far less shy than I had before found them, the birds were still abundantly wary, 

 and obviously could be observed to advantage only from concealment. 



Dr. T. Gilbert Pearson (1919) discovered a colony of "probably 

 20 pairs" of American egrets in Brunswick County, North Carolina, 

 in 1898. This is probably the only colony in that State and Mr. 

 Pearson says: 



Wo have visited the birds during the nesting period seven different times within 

 the past 12 years, and have found them just about holding their own in numbers. 



Their nests were high up in tall cypress trees. The lowest one discovered was 

 at least 40 feet and the others were fully 80 feet above the water. 



George Willett (1919) describes an entirely different manner of 

 nesting found in the marshes of Malheur Lake, Oregon. He writes : 



On June 28, while rowing along the outer edge of the tules at the southern 

 end of the lake, I finally located the colony in two small tule patches about 3 

 miles east of the mouth of the Blitzen River. Twenty pairs of the birds were 

 nesting at this date, three nests containing eggs, apparently heavily incubated, 

 and the other nests containing young of various ages, from newly hatched to 

 half grown ones that were able to walk around among the tules. The nests were 



