90 



THE OOLOGIST 



tree on the edge of woods. I got a 

 friend to collect this set as I was too 

 heavy to go out on the limb. As he 

 went out the limb bent down with his 

 weight until he was nearly upright- 

 heels first. It was amusing to see 

 him back up the limb with the nest in 

 one hand giving vent to his feelings 

 with numerous grunts until he had 

 them safe. 



E. J. Darlington. 

 Wilmington, Del. 



900 Kinds of Birds in the Canal Zone. 

 On one little island in Gatun lake, 

 formerly known as Lion hill, before 

 the impounded waters of the Chagras 

 river isolated it from the rest of the 

 canal zone, are more species of birds 

 than in any one locality in the west- 

 ern hemisphere. E. A. Goldman of 

 the biological survey, department of 

 agriculture, in two short collecting 

 trips to Panama, has procured about 

 300 different species of birds and it is 

 estimated that a larger variety is to 

 be found within the limits of the canal 

 zone than in any one state in the 

 United States— about 900. In the 

 neighborhood of Gatun at the Atlantic 

 entrance of the canal alone no less 

 than 250 species have been found. 



After Great Blue Herons With Will 

 Crispin. 

 Of a number of field trips taken dur- 

 ing 1913, the recollection of none is 

 so sacred in my mind as is the one to 

 the Great Blue Herony near Salem, 

 New Jersey. True, no rare specimens 

 were found but it marked the last out- 

 ing which I took with my friend, Will 

 Crispin, ere he fell in pursuit of the 

 Peregrine's nest at Nockamixon. Will 

 had invited me down some time be- 

 fore and as 1 was near Philadelphia at 

 that time in search of Long Eared 

 Owls and Duck Hawks I decided to 

 take a chance on the earliness of the 

 season and run down on April 8th. 



I reached Woodstown, New Jersey, 

 at about 6 p. m., where Will met me 

 in his car and we started for the woods 

 about four miles outside of Woods- 

 town. Along the road a number of in- 

 teresting birds were observed, among 

 them being a pair of imported Hungar- 

 ian Pheasants. We left the car along 

 the road near the big woods and start- 

 ed through the heavy timber, startling 

 several flocks of Turkey Buzzards 

 from the leafless trees on the way. As 

 we reached the outskirts of the Her- 

 ony, the great birds stood up on their 

 nests and then sailed over us in the 

 dusk uttering their harsh cries. Prob- 

 ably sixteen pairs of birds were breed- 

 ing in this place, the nests being plac- 

 ed well up in the tops of the tall, 

 straight chestnuts from sixty-five to 

 eighty-five feet above the ground in a 

 high, dry section of the woods. 



The first nest I inspected was sixty- 

 eight feet up in a triple crotch of a 

 Chestnut, being a very large structure 

 of sticks and twigs, slightly cupped 

 and somewhat lined with cat-briar. It 

 held but two eggs and as a nest in a 

 nearby tree which Will ascended at 

 the same time likewise held but two, 

 our hopes fell. 



However, after a seventy-four foot 

 climb I reached the next nest, built in 

 the same manner in a double crotch 

 and found a fine set of five eggs which 

 to Will's astonishment proved a week 

 incubated when they were blown. All 

 the trees and nests were somewhat 

 spattered with the chalky excrements 

 of the birds. 



The next nest I reached was seven- 

 ty-five feet up in a double fork and al- 

 so held five eggs. 



Nearby I hurriedly ascended to a 

 very large nest about eighty feet up 

 and found another set of five eggs, in- 

 cubated several days. It was now 

 nearly dark but I made one more climb 

 to a nest seventy-two feet up in the 



