Vol. IX. 



The Oologist. 



ALBION, N. Y., JULY, 1892. 



NO. 7 



A Quawk Town. 



For several years it has been my de- 

 sire to visit the swamps in tlie northern 

 part of this, Henry, county and this 

 .j'ear I took a few ihij's vacation and 

 made mj- visit. 



Old hunters tokl me about a "Town" 

 of some kind of birds, where there were 

 hundreds of nests and ray friend, Keen- 

 er, promised to take me to the place if 

 I would come over. 



I arrived in Annavvan about sundown 

 and we started for his home in a few 

 minutes. 



I soon 1)egan to see numbers of Am. 

 Bitterns and after a while he showed me 

 a Hock of "Quawks" on the way to 

 their feeding grounds, and as the sun 

 went down and we went along the sand 

 hills I could see them ever3'whei"e. 



When nearly at his home "Doc" 

 showed me one lying in the road. It 

 Was a Black-crowned Night Heron. 



Next morning we went around one 

 end of the swamp to get a boat and I 

 saw great numbers of Herons Hying 

 about a grove, and at that time thought 

 they were nesting there 



After getting our boat we "poled" 

 through the marsh— Doc poled and I 

 encouraged him. VVe found a numljer 

 of Yellow-headed Blacklnrds. Coots, 

 Gallinules and Grel)es nests, but it was 

 not until we ha<l gone some 3 miles that 

 the Heronrj- came in full view. 



It seemed to me as I stood up in the 

 boat and saw their white necks in the 

 grass that 5000 wasn't too b:g a guess 

 for the number there. 



We .soon got in the town whicii was a 

 large space wliere tlie birds had tramp- 

 t'd down tlie grass to the top of the wa- 

 ter, whicli was from 3 to '6 feet deej). 

 the grass— a co.ir.si; kind found in 



marshes — growing to the heiglit of about 

 3 feet above the water at this time. 



This made a kind of floor and on it 

 the nests were scattered all about. 



The nests were platforms from 2 to 6 

 in. deep, almost flat on top, so flat that 

 many eggs had rolled off into the water, 

 generally composed of green rushes and 

 the stalk of tlie marsh grass. But some 

 of th(!ni were very substantial aftairs, 

 made almost entirely of twigs and quite 

 large sticks, brought from the grove 

 where I fii'st saw the birds flying and 

 from which we could now see them com- 

 ing with sticks in their bills. 



Ver3^ few of the ne-sts contained eggs 

 at this time as the town had been thor- 

 oughly robbed a week before and all 

 the eggs taken, 120 dozen I was told. 



We only got one- set of 4 and a few of 

 thi-ee — most of the nests containing 2 

 or 1 . 



On the 8th I again-' visited the town 

 and found several sets of 4 and a num- 

 ber of 3. 



From what I could see I think 3 is 

 about the full set and that 2 is common. 

 4 i.s rare and I did not see anj^ with 

 more thru 4. The eggs were all fresh 

 0-' incubation was so slight as to be 

 scarcelj"^ noticed. 



The eggs are tlark greenish blue when 

 flrst laid and in a set it is easy to pick 

 out the flrst laid by the variation in 

 color as they fade to a light greenish 

 l)lue sliade very quickly. 



The eggs in a set sometimes show 

 very great variations in size and shape, 

 and the sets of 4 will avei'age smaller 

 than sets of 3. I think. 



A set of 3measures2.10.\1.48, 1.97x1.48 

 2.04x1.53 another measures 2.25x1.50, 

 1.92xL47. 2.00x1.49. 



A .set of four: 2.09x1.51, 1.95x1.50, 1.97 

 xl.52, 1.87x1.40. Five eggs average 

 2.09x1.47. 



