178 



THE OOLOGIST. 



A large number of the birds left the 

 "town" as soon as disturbed and seemed 

 to have no farther interest in it — settl- 

 ing down about a mile away and re- 

 maining thei'B as long as we were in the 

 swamp. The "boys" called them the 

 "bucks". 



The birds did not seem to take auy 

 particular interest in their nests — keep- 

 ing so far away we had difficulty in pro- 

 curing specimens. 



The feeding ground of the Herons are 

 sometimes as much as 20 miles away. 



They come regularly to the marshy 

 sloughs and the lake a mile from Ke- 

 wanee which is over 20 miles from their 

 nesting place. 



The}' reach here shortly after sun- 

 down. That these birds can tly fast I 

 know as I saw a pair of Hei'ons keep up 

 with an express train for a distance of 

 over 5 miles. A Heronry is not a sweet 

 smelling place on a warm day I can as- 

 sure you — both the eggs and the birds 

 have a disagreeable odor — and the de- 

 caying matter makes it worse. 



A. C. MURCHISON, 



Kewanee, 111. 



The Hairy Woodpecker. 

 [Dryobatcs vellosu.^) 



The Hairy Woodpecker is a common 

 summer resident in this vicinity. Al- 

 though it sometimes escapes observation 

 by its retiring iiabits, I think it to be as 

 common as the Downy Woodpecker (/>. 

 pubc^cens) here. In speaking of its re- 

 tiring habits I do not mean that it fre- 

 quents the deep woods alone, but mere- 

 ly that it is not seen in orchards and 

 open groves near houses as the Downy 

 often is. The plumage is much the 

 same as the Downj^'s, the most conspic- 

 uous diffei'ence being the lack of the 

 white on the back, so noticable in the 

 Downy Woodpecker. 



The favorite nesting place of the 

 Hairy here is in live poplar trees, the 

 nest being dug in the body from ten to 



forty feet high. So marked is their 

 preference for these trees that of five 

 occupied ami many unoccupied nests, 

 noted this year, all but one were placed 

 in poplars. The exceptional one was 

 placed in a dead but sound maple stub, 

 I think that this preference may be ac-- 

 counted for by the fact that while they 

 prefer strong, live trees, they naturally- 

 like the wood soft enough to dig easily ^ 

 and also by the fact that a dead or spon-. 

 gy heart is very often found in these 

 trees, in which the perpendicular pasi* 

 age may be dug wuth comparative ease. 

 The nests are often dug in from the 

 north or west sid? of the tree, probably 

 to escape the summer storros. The en- 

 trance passage extends in about six in- 

 ches to the perpendicular passage which 

 is about ten inches deep, enlarging at 

 the bottom. 



While opening a nest at least one of 

 the birds usually stays near by, flitting 

 about and rapping on the neighboring 

 trees as if in sheer nervousness, The 

 eggs are four to six in number. A set 

 of six taken June 8th, average in meas-. 

 urement .87x.67. They were taken 

 from a nest, placed as usual, in a pop- 

 lar tree and about ten feet from the 

 ground. 



W. E. Aiken, 

 Benson, Vt. 



Birds Found Breeding in Bertie Co., N. C- 



Below I give a list of the birds of 

 which I have taken eggs during the 

 springs of 1891 and 1892, together with 

 a shortdescriptionof the nests, measure- 

 ments of eggs, etc. 



1. Green Heron. Ardea virescens. 

 Common summer resident, nesting in 

 bushes and small trees from 8 to 30 feet 

 up; nest a shallow platform of small 

 sticks loosely laid together; the comple- 

 ment of eggs is four or tire, more often 

 four; 'a set of five, taken May 16th, '91, 

 present the following sizes: 1.49x1.11, 

 1.53x1.12, 1.48x1.10, l.r)2xl.09, A set of 4 



