228 



THE OOLOGIST. 



had visitetl the swamp two clays ahead 

 and taken all the available sets. It 

 was with difficulty my friend secured a 

 set of four. 



The average size was 2.G8 x 1.82. 

 The texture of the shells was very 

 rough and they were covered in places 

 with a calcerous deposit. 



The nests, some two hundred in all, 

 were placed on an average of forty 

 feet fnmi the ground. The were com- 

 posed of reeds, found at the edge of the 

 swamp, and some, mostly of the year, 

 were lined with .straw. The older ones, 

 besides being dirty and weather beaten, 

 showed signs of extra material having 

 been added on year by year. The 

 swamp has evidently held this heronry 

 for years as the ground is white in 

 some places so great is the ac(-umula- 

 tion of manure. The old nests are 

 strong enough to bear the weight of a 

 man, but as most members of the 

 genus homo do not have the happiest 

 of sensations when tifty feet from terra 

 tirma and swinging out far enough to 

 reach over and get into the nests, I 

 would advise that persons tunnel 

 through them to get the eggs. The 

 view from these trees— the tallest 

 ones — is excellent and it was with re- 

 luctance we would put our glasses 

 away when ready for coming down. 



After a good deal of tramping we 

 found our way out of the swamp aid 

 ate our dinner at the edge. While in 

 the swamp we noticed the following 

 birds: Mourning Dove, Am. Crow and 

 nest with eggs, Flickers, Red Headed 

 Woodpeckers, B.C. Chickadee, W. B. 

 Nuthatch and Red Shouldered Hawks; 

 but they were all very quiet and eluded 

 our gaze as much as they could. 



About a week after visiting the 

 swamp I found that I had been severely 

 poisoned with poison sumac. Al- 

 though a certain doctor does not allude 

 t ) it in his article on the dark sides of a 

 polleetor's life in the O. & (). I should 

 call it one of them; but, he may l»e 

 ■writing from a doetor'*s standpoint, and 



so he is able to reply: "Sirs, ye know, 

 that by this craft we have our wealth." 

 On Apr. 21, 1890, in company with a 

 friend, 1 visited the swamp again, but 

 the heronry looked as though it was 

 not half of its original size and the only 

 occupied nests were in the very tallest 

 trees. On inquiry from a farmer I 

 learned that a taxidermist from an 

 adjoining town came d(jwu and carried 

 away three or four bags of skins and 

 this with the havocs made by the 

 Crows in robbing the eggs and the 

 fiendish collectors will in time break up 

 what must once have been an immense 

 colony. Perhiips no one i'eels more 

 indignant ;it those Avho will help to 

 bring this about than the farmers living 

 in the immediate vicinity to the swamp 

 who lelitve the Crone, as they call 

 them, are a benetit to them. In the 

 hereafter that man v,ho is caught 

 carrying away eggs or skins may ex- 

 pect rough treatment at the hands of 

 these good men . 



. The Great Blue Heron arrives in this 

 latitude about the middle of March, but 

 its return is variable. Following is 

 Ardea herodias's modest "bill-o-fare" : 

 "Crabs, eels, shell fish and various 

 fishes," (De Kay.) "In a carp pond 

 one has been known to cat one thous- 

 and stone carp in a year," (Wilson.) 

 Prof. F. H. King found a bull head in 

 the stomach of one which measured S-J- 

 inches in length. "Snakes, frogs, 

 mice, tlshes and insects," (Samuels.) 

 "Fish of all kinds, frogs, lizards, 

 snakes, birds, shrews, meadow mice, 

 young rats and dragon Hies. It de- 

 stroys great numbers of Marsh Heus» 

 Rails and other bii'ds," "Audubon." 

 EuwAKD p. Carlton, 

 VVauwatosa,Wis. 



The Prothonotary Warbler. 



This handsome little Warbler arrives, 

 here about the 10th of May. This year 

 (1890) I have found only two pairs dur- 

 ing the season, so they ai'e not what we 

 would call common. 



