198 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



by broad gray wings ! The young birds are particularly unsuspicious 

 in such situations and often spring up almost under our feet; their 

 peculiar shape and speckled plumage are easily recognized. 



The name, night heron, immediately suggests to my mind Sandy 

 Neck and the famous rookery that has flourished and struggled alter- 

 nately for over a century on that long chain of sand dunes that sep- 

 arates Barnstable Harbor from Cape Cod Bay. Many ornithologists 

 have visited it and I have seen it many times in spring, summer, 

 autumn, and winter. Several times it has been "shot out" and it 

 has, within my memory, occupied three different parts of the neck a 

 mile or more apart. Sandy Neck is about 6 miles long. Its north- 

 ern or bay side is the continuation of a broad, flat, sandy beach, 

 which extends for many miles along the north side of Cape Cod and 

 terminates in a wide point of bare sand. On its southern or harbor 

 side it is bordered by extensive salt meadows or marshes, covering sev- 

 eral square miles and intersected by numerous creeks, channels, and 

 ditches. The central portion consists of a series of picturesque sand 

 dunes, some low and rolling hillocks and some high mountains of 

 sand with steep sides and narrow crests, from which one may gain a 

 comprehensive view of the long succession of barren, wind-swept 

 peaks, protecting sheltered hollows filled with luxuriant vegetation. 

 Some of the older hills are heavily wooded with oaks and pitch pines 

 and many of the hollows contain little forests of oaks, pitch pines, 

 maples, sassafras, and wild cherries, beneath which are often impene- 

 trable thickets of scrub oak, alder, sumac, and other underbrush, 

 interwoven with tangles of cat-briar, woodbine, and poison ivy. 

 There are also numerous clusters of beach plums and bayberry 

 bushes in the hollows or on the sand dunes and several small cran- 

 berry bogs and swampy pond holes. Altogether it is an ideal loca- 

 tion for a heron rookery, with plenty of suitable nesting sites in 

 secluded spots and with abundant food supplies, on the broad sand 

 flats off the beaches, along the many miles of tidal creeks on the 

 marshes, and around the marshy pond holes and bogs in the hollows. 

 Here the largest colony of night herons, at least the largest of which 

 I can find any record, in North America makes its summer home. 



Courtship. — On April 30, 1924, 1 made a special trip to the Barn- 

 stable rookery to study the courtship of this heron. I found the 

 breeding season well under way; many nests were in process of con- 

 struction and some already held from one to three eggs. The birds 

 were rather shy, but several times I was able to observe the rather 

 simple courtship ceremony. The male alights in the tree top beside 

 the female, or a little above her; he bows low, leaning down toward 

 her, erecting his crest and the feathers of his neck, breast, and back 

 in a rather striking display; she responds in much the same way; 

 their red eyes glow with sexual excitement; they caress each other 



