30 



THE OOLOGIST 



stick, when they would fly into the air, 

 or alight in the top of some tall tree 

 and watch me and my actions. 



Upon firing a gun, nearly the whole 

 colony would fly into the air uttering 

 their peculiar cry as they flew. Their 

 nests are exceedingly hard to reach, 

 sometimes being in the extreme top of a 

 dead ash tree not more than a foot and 

 a half in diameter at the ground, and 

 running straight up without a single 

 branch or stub on its trunk till the nest 

 is reached, which is generally from 

 eighty to one hundred feet from the 

 ground, the trees not having a particle 

 of bark on them. Here are a few dead 

 limbs broken off about two or three feet 

 from the body of the tree, and on these 

 the nest is placed. I have seen nests 

 built in this way, the trees at the nest 

 not larger than a man's arm, the wind 

 rocking it to and fro, making it exceed- 

 ing dangerous for any person to climb 

 them. 



The nests are so large that it is some- 

 times very difficult to get at the eggs, 

 as one is obliged to remove the large 

 sticks of which it is composed and make 

 a hole large enough for the hand to be 

 inserted, and in this way the eggs are 

 reached and brought forth through the 

 opening. 



The Great Blue Heron also nests in 

 large elm trees, selecting one with a 

 very large trunk, and nearly always 

 building at the extremity of a limb, gen- 

 erally a horizontal one and many are 

 not strong enough to bear the weight 

 of a man, thereby making it exceeding- 

 ing dangerous to try to approach the 

 nest. 



I have seen as many as eight nests in 

 the top of one large spreading elm, and 

 the old Herons sitting on their nests, 

 which would swing to and fro with 

 every breeze. The nests are very large, 

 usually about four feet across, and 

 sometimes larger, being composed 

 of sticks, some of them larger than a 

 man's thumb, firmly stuck together, 



and lined with fine bark or moss, but 

 sometimes composed only of sticks. 



The Great Blue Heron, being carni- 

 vorous, lives chiefly on tad -poles, frogs, 

 fish, and crabs, and it is an interesting 

 sight to watch the old birds feed their 

 young. The old Herons swallow the 

 food they wish to feed them, carry it t(v 

 their nests, disgorge it, and it is imme- 

 diately sv\al]o<\'ed by the young, glut- 

 tonous birds. The Heron sometime.s 

 does much damage to fish-ponds prr,y- 

 ing upon the small fish and carrying^ 

 them off, as they can easily swallow a 

 large frog or a fish six or eight inches 

 long. It is an interesting sight to^ 

 watch the Great Blue Heron catch its 

 prey. It will wade into a pond or creek 

 till the water reaches a depth of about 

 six inches, draw its iiead down upon its 

 breast and stand perfectly still with its 

 eyes closely watching the water. When 

 some unlucky fish or frog gets within 

 its reach it instantly stretches out its 

 long neck and with an unerring aim 

 strike its open beak down upon its prey. 

 It then raises its head and swallows its 

 prize, not even stopping to dispatch it. 



Nearly all the Great Blue Herons 

 leave for the south by the latter part of 

 September, but a few remain much la- 

 ter. 



Dana C. Gtllktt, 

 Barre Center, N. Y. 

 (to be concluded.) 



C'imbing and Collecting. 



It is impossible to n;ive explicit direc- 

 tions for climbing, for different cases 

 demand different treatment. Yetthex'e 

 are a few general directions which may 

 help the otHogist. The following I have 

 picked up from time to time during my 

 egg collecting career. 



In climbing a smooth tree like a syca- 

 more, the climbers are apt to slip. To 

 avoid falling from such a cause the fol- 

 owing method can be used with success. 



When climbing such a tree a light 

 cotton rope — such as isu^ed for clothes 



