lo^%i 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



LOG I ST. 



$1.00 pel- 

 Annuui. 



PUBLISHED BY FRANK B. WEBSTEll. 



Estiiblislied, March, ISTri. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. XIII. 



BOSTON, MASS., JUNE, i888. 



No. 6. 



A Visit to Crane Island. 



liV CKU. (i. CANTWKl.I,. 



For soiiii' tiino past, it. liiis alwnys ln'cii my 

 great desire tn i>;iy ;i visit tu a fjrcat ri'nclezvuus 

 of birds near Miiiiicaiiolis, Minnesota, l;iio\vu as 

 (,'raiie Island. 



This is a small island, cimiiirisinj;' about ten 

 acres, an(i is situated in tbe upper part of Lake 

 Minnetouka, wliieli lies about titteen miles from 

 this city. 



The island has very steep banks, but wiien 

 once on top, it is found to be almost level and 

 covered with a very tall growth of elm, bass- 

 wood, and weeds growing thick and rank every- 

 where. 



On the seventh of May, ISSd, a companion 

 and myself boarded a train for the lake, 

 equipped with a small sized trunk full of cot- 

 ton, with the necessary climbers, straps, etc.i 

 bent on reaching this island if possible. We 

 arrived at the lake in the evening, and found ac- 

 connnodations in a summer hotel which had not 

 yet opened for the season, but where the pro- 

 prietor and his family live the year around. 



We did some tall thinking that night, and 

 dreamed of wading over our ears in eggs. At 

 daybreak we were up, but alas ! it was raining 

 hard and blowing a gale, making it impraclic- 

 ablc to make the distance of a mile and a half 

 to the island in a small rowboat. We contem- 

 plated spending the whole day on the island, 

 but as it was, we found we must be contented 

 with half a day, for the wind continued till 

 noon, but it stopped raining soon after break- 

 fast. In the meantime we found plenty to do, 

 as it was in the middle of the migrations, and 

 we secured many valuable skins. Evening 

 Grosbeaks were very conunon that day as well 

 as many species of Warblers. We found some 

 eggs of the earlier breeders, and an unlinished 

 nesting place, each of Yellow-bellied Woodpeck- 



er {Sphyrapir.ux varms), and a \Vhite-bellied 

 Nuthatch {S'iUu citnilini'tiiiis). 



Soon after dinner we were on our way to the 

 island, and were delighted at the birds going 

 and coming, for they proved to be Great Blue 

 Herons (Ardi:a hcrodias), -.lud Double Crested 

 Cormorants (riialafrocurax diliijihiis). On our 

 near approach, great nundiers of the birds 

 could b(! seen sitting on the dead limbs, the 

 Cormorants looking lik(; so many Crows, and 

 tbe llei'ons balanc-ing themselves as best they 

 could. At this they seemed awkward, as they 

 arc? not "built that way." They generally 

 alight by falling all in a heap in the leafy part 

 of the tree, and after a good deal of fuss find a 

 comfortable perch, and tie their necks in a bow- 

 knot and sit anil sun themselves until another 

 Heron comes Hopping along and accidentally 

 gives him a. "poke" and puts his centre of 

 gravity out of position. 



After a good deal of tramiding among the 

 small branches for a foothold and several coarse 

 " honks," the other flops into another tree top. 



Once on the island our spirits rose, for the 

 trees were full of huge nests, almost all of 

 which were worn and weather-beaten, and 

 bleached almost to whiteness, as this place has 

 been the breeding place of Herons and Cormo- 

 rants ever since our " oldest resident " can re- 

 member. An adjacent island was formerly 

 yearly occupied by a pair of Bald Eagles, but 

 with the advancement of population they left 

 a few years ago. 



In numbers the Herons predominated, and 

 they occupy a particular part of the island, 

 while the Cormorants have the other part. The 

 " line" seems very distinctly drawn, for in the 

 Heron part no Cormorants were found, and 

 vice ven-d. The greatest h.armony seemed to 

 prevail between the two, and on the " line " 

 both are foviud breeding in the same tree. 



There must have been upwards of five nests 

 on the place, and in one tree I counted fourteen. 

 Not a large part of the nests are inaccessible, on 



Copyright, 1888, by F. H. CARPENTER and F. B. WEBSTER. 



