84 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 18-N0. 6 



E. W. Nelson. "Birds of Northeastern 

 Illinois." Bulletin of the Essex Institute, 

 Vol. III., December. 



Night Heron : " Common. Owing to its 

 frequenting the almost impenetrable wild 

 rice swamps, this species would be o\er- 

 looked on a transient visit to their haunts. 

 The first of July, 1874, I saw a few young of 

 the year in the Calumet marshes, but it was 

 not until June, 1S76, that I learned anything 

 regarding their habits in this State. The 

 middle of this month, I visited Grass Lake, 

 Lake County, 111., some miles west of Wau- 

 kegan. This "lake" is simply a widening 

 of the Fox River, which flows through its 

 centre producing a shallow lake about one 

 mile wide and three miles long. While col- 

 lecting near a large patch of this wild rice 

 we were surprised to see a number of Night 

 Herons arise from the interior of the patch 

 and commence circling about, uttering hoarse 

 cries. Upon examining the place we were 

 still more surprised to find that the birds 

 were breeding in this improbable location. 

 During this and the following day we exam- 

 ined, within an area of two acres, at least fifty 

 nests of this species. They were all jilaced 

 in the midst of particularly dense bunches of 

 rice, the stiff, last year's stalks of which, con- 

 verging slightly near the roots, formed a base 

 for their support. The nests were well built 

 structures, composed of innumerable small 

 pieces of dead rice stalks, varying from two 

 to ten inches in length. 



" The nests averaged from ten to fifteen 

 inches in diameter at the top and from ten 

 to thirty in depth. So firmly were they 

 built that I several times stood upon a large 

 nest, to take a more extended view, and did 

 it but little damage. A few contained fresh 

 eggs, and a few had young from one to ten 

 days old, but the majority contained eggs 

 with half-embryos. The parents exhibited 

 great solicitude while we were in the vicinity, 

 but were so cautious that we only succeeded 

 in shooting two." 



Robei-t Kennicott. " Catalogue of Birds 



observed in Cook County, 111." Trans. 111., 

 State Agric. Soc, I., 1853-55. 



Night Heron: A. nycticorax. (No re- 

 marks made.) 



Robert Ridgivay. " Catalogue of Birds 

 of Illinois." Bulletin of the Illinois Museum 

 of Natural History, vol. i. 



Black-Crowned Night Heron : " Resident 

 southward, at least in mild winters ; summer 

 sojourner northward. Knowp as (^uak, 

 Qwan Bird, etc." 



Everman. "Birds of Carroll Co., Ind." 



Night Heron : ".Apparently a very rare mi- 

 grant. On the evening of April 5, 1878, I 

 shot a female in fine plumage at a small 

 pond in Camden." 



The Black-Crowned Night Heron seems 

 to be \ery generally distributed over the 

 State as a summer resident, and very abun- 

 dant in certain localities where suitable 

 breeding places can be found. It is a win- 

 ter resident in the southern part of the State, 

 though the greater number winter much 

 further south. The time of arrival is about 

 the first week of April, and departure about 

 the first of October or last of November. 

 It is usually found in abundance wherever it 

 is found during the breeding season, from its 

 habits of nesting in large colonies, but dur- 

 ing the nesting season it may travel thirty 

 miles from the nest in search of food, large 

 flocks coming from a swamp over twenty 

 miles away to feed at a lake near this place 

 (Kewanee) every night during the nesting 

 season. So far I have knowledge of but four 

 of these nesting places in the State : one in 

 Winnebago County, one in Lake County, 

 one in Henry and one in Kankakee counties. 

 Two of these are built in trees and two on 

 the grass in a marsh. 



The nests, when placed in trees, seem to 

 be very carelessly made ; one observer notes 

 that the eggs can be seen from below. 

 When the nests are placed in a marsh they 

 are very substantial affairs, howe\er, and 

 many of them will bear the weight of a man 

 without great damage. 



