72 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-No. 5 



these nests, having been used for several years 

 in succession, had become to be qnite large 

 affairs. The number of eggs in a nest was 

 very often not over three, occasionally four or 

 five, but more often only two were found. 

 In another rookery visited a little later on the 

 birds showed about the same habits in nesting 

 and the same variations in the number of 

 eggs. Sometimes they are to be found breed- 

 ing with other Herons; again only a small 

 colony will be found witli no otlier Herons 

 breeding near. 



YELLOW-CROWXED NIGHT IIEHON. 



Having never seen one of these beautiful 

 birds I was somewhat surjirised when, in 

 April, 1888, my partner and I came suddenly 

 upon one of their breeding places near Levey 

 Lake. The place they had chosen for tlieir 

 nesting site was a little pond densely sur- 

 rounded l)y tall trees and containing a thick 

 growth of tall button-wood bushes. In these 

 bushes, and situated at from three to five feet 

 from the water, the nests were i_)laced. They 

 were thick, bulky structures, most of them 

 having been used for a number of years. The 

 bushes in which the nests were placed were 

 quite tall and, the place being surrounded by 

 tall trees, the nests were in semi-darkness the 

 greater part of the day. No signs of bird life 

 are visible as you first approach the place, biit 

 the moment a gun is fired they all leave their 

 nests and with loud "quocks" fiy heavily 

 over into the trees at the other side of the 

 rookery. They feed almost exclusively at 

 night. At the date of our first visit (April 25), 

 most of the nests contained complete sets of 

 incubated eggs. The nests of last year's 

 birds, however, contained only partially coin- 

 ])lete sets or else none at all. This lateness in 

 nesting is doubtless due to the fact that tlie 

 young birds have to build new nests, while the 

 older ones use the same ones from year to 

 year. The number of eggs found in a nest 

 was generally four, sometimes only three and 

 in a few instances six wei-e found. 



With the exception of one or two other sim- 

 ilar places this is the only place I have ever 

 found them nesting, and in all cases there 

 were no other Herons found breeding with 

 them, unless perchance a straggling Green 

 Heron or two. Prof. Frank M. Chapman 

 speaks of finding them nesting in isolated 

 pairs along the creeks which flow into the 

 Swannee Eiver. The Yellow-crowned Night 

 Heron, like all the other Herons, upon being 

 robbed once will lay the second time. Com- 

 plete sets of their second laying may be found 



at from twenty to twenty-five days from the 



date the first sets were taken. 



F. G. Pearson. 

 Guilford College, N. C. 



Bird Notes from Central New 

 Hampshire, Winter of 1891 '92. 



Robin, November ;]d and Otli, in January and 

 March 13tli. 



Winter Wren, November 25th and December 

 5th and 12th. 



Hermit Thi-ush, November 9th. 



Kingfisher, November 24th. 



Crows have strayed all winter. 



Blue Jays, plenty. 



Pine Grosbeaks, <piite common. 



Pine Finches, very plenty. 



American (Joldlinch, i)leuty first part of 

 winter. 



Purple Finch, very scarce. 



American Crossbill, quite common. 



Juncos, about the same as Crossbills. 



Golden-crowned Kinglet, plenty. 



Tree Sparrows, common. 



Snowllakes, seen occasionally. 



Red-breasted Nuthatch, common. 



White-breasted Nuthatch, scarce. 



Chickadees, ])lenty. 



American Brown Creeper, quite common. 



Hairy, Downy and Pileated Woodpeckers, 

 seen occasionally. 



Ruffed Grouse, not i)lcnty. 



Barred and Saw-whet Owls, a few. 



March Sth, shot a young male Rusty Grackle, 

 that had been seen three times previous. It 

 had the outer eight primaries gone, had prob- 

 ably been shot away in the fall, disabling the 

 bird so it could not migrate. It does not 

 breed here. It was singing and seemed quite 

 happy. I have the skin in my collection. 



J. H. Johnson. 



Purple Gallinule in Massachusetts. 



A fine female Purple Gallinule was left with 



me, April 9th, for mounting. Knowing this 



to be a rare bird in Massachusetts I thought 



its occurrence might be worthy of notice. 



C. C. Wood. 

 Plymouth, Mass. 



