(f<^%0 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



tl.OO per 

 Annum. 



PUBLISHED KY FRANK B. WEBSTER. 

 Established, March, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. XIII. 



BOSTON, MASS., DECEMBER, 1888. 



No. 12. 



A Day's Experience. 



BY R. II. C. 



It is always interesting and iustructivo, to 

 read of the experiences ot other eolleetors, but 

 as they invariably liescribe their succes.sful 

 trips; I think that one in which my ardor was 

 drowned out, for the time being, as thoroughly 

 as rain and the wet blanket of adverse circuni- 

 stauoes could possibly do it, might interest, if 

 it would not instruct some of the readers of thi! 

 O. & O. 



Krom the first of Jan., 1888, [ began to-inquire 

 for the location of a certain heronry, where the 

 Is'ight herons were reported to breed in im- 

 mense numbers. After a great deal of diligent 

 inquiry, the place was located. So at four 

 o'clock on the morning of May 30, after dreams 

 in wnich herons, nests, eggs, swamps, climbing 

 irons and guns were mixed as the ideas of one 

 in the iron grip of the god Bacchus, my friend 

 and myself, started on our seven mile tramp, 

 to where the poor N. ijrisea nafvia guarded the 

 treasure laid for our especial benefit. The 

 weatlier had Ijeeu tlneateuing all the morning 

 andjust before we reached the cedar swamp, in 

 which the heronry was located. It began to 

 rain. We took slielter for a while under a tree, 

 but as the rain showed no signs of abating, we 

 concluded there was no time like the present, 

 and we might as well get our eggs and go 

 home as soon as possible. So we struck into 

 the woods, in wliat appeared to be the most 

 favorable i)lace and began our search for the 

 herons, that were said to occupy the whole 

 swamp. For four or five hours we hunted 

 those cedars, now wading in water half way to 

 our knees, then falling over prostrate tree 

 trunks rendered slippery by the rain. Tlien one 

 leg would suddenly go into a hole, as far as 

 nature would allow one leg to go. Until finally 

 we saw a nest. What an exhilarating efl'ect 

 the sight of a long sought for nest or bird can 



have on the low and water-soaked spirits of the 

 tired collector. Water, mud, rain, everything 

 was for the moment forgotten as we made for 

 that nest. But alas ! for the enchantment that 

 distance lends, for, on being reached, it proved 

 to be the architecture of periiaps the great 

 grandparents of the present generation of 

 herons, as were at the least twenty others that 

 were in the vicinity. We happened to think 

 then that we did not want any herons eggs, so 

 we struck a bee line for the road, as we thought. 

 I do not know how far wc travelled but we 

 did not find the road. Finally, however, we 

 struck a cart patii, and as there is an end to all 

 things we naturally inferred there was to that 

 path, although which end was the nearer home 

 was another thing. When we reached a road, 

 which we finally did, we turned by mutual 



consent to the left and started for nobody 



knows where, but we didn't find that out until 

 we had travelled quite a distance in the wrong 

 direction. The first pointer we had that we 

 were wrong was when we sighted a weather 

 vane, I stopped tliere and said, I don't know 

 where I am! do jou? " No 1 don't" was the 

 answer and what was worse we did not know 

 how to find out without asking or travelling 

 until things began to look more natural. After 

 some debate we chose the former. So swallow- 

 ing the difiicult}' with the best grace possible 

 we asked the first man that came along if he 

 knew a place anywhere around there called B. 

 lie laughed and, pointing in the direction from 

 which we had come, said it was about six and 

 one-half miles straight ahead. We thanked him 

 very dryly and turned our steps homeward. 

 That six and one-half miles would forcibly 

 remind one of their hotel bill .at the end of their 

 vacation, long and Iiard to foot. 



To sum up that morning's account we had 

 got one Prairie Warbler (Demlroeca DisaiUir), 

 one Black-poll Warbler (Drmlroeca Striata)^ one 

 Canadian Flycatching Warbler (M. Cayiadensis) , 

 wet through, tired out, and sick in experience. 



Copyright, 1888, by P. H. Carpenter and F. B. Webster. 



