4 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



A GREAT BLUE HERON 



One day I was walking near the Snipe Swamp in the Berkshire Mount- 

 ains, when I saw a shadow sail over a field and then into the Swamp 

 that I was headed for. The shadow was a great blue heron. 



When I am out studying birds I usually go to that Swamp. I took 

 pains to keep very quiet. When I was almost in the middle of the Swamp 

 I looked up in a tree to find the heron, and then I remembered that there 

 are a great many fish and minnows in the swamp and that maybe she was 

 fishing. Finally when I was almost at the end of the swamp I found the 

 nest. 



The heron must have crept away when she saw me coming. I studied 

 the nest, in which there were two eggs, and then I went on. I saw a lot 

 of warblers and other birds and then I went home. 



The next day I went to visit the nest and I saw one chick but the 

 other was not out then. When the mother saw that I was so near she 

 snapped her bill and threatened to peck me, but finally, when I left, I saw 

 her go to the nest to see if I took the other egg or her precious baby. 



The next day I went to the nest, and the other egg was hatched. 

 After about six days the mother did not mind me except when I stooped 

 down to get a good look at the babies. One day I caught a pan of minnows. 

 I put them down near the nest and went home. 



Next day I went there and the minnows were all gone. I put another 

 panful there (although it was hard work to catch them) and I watched it. 

 She began to feed the young birds, stuffing the minnows down their throats, 

 and then they wanted more. How they could hold them all I do not 

 know, but I helped the mother feed them every day (they grew so fast), 

 until one day the family was gone. 



Harry Kennard. 

 (age 13) 



Wanted The Roosevelt Memorial Association, Inc., 1 Madison Av- 

 enue, New York City, which is carrying on a valuable work through its 

 bureau of research and information, is very anxious to obtain the follow- 

 ing pamphlets by Theodore Roosevelt : Notes on some of the birds of Oyster 

 Bay, Long Island, 1879; the Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin 

 County, New York, by Theodore Roosevelt and H. D. Minot, about 1877. 

 Anyone having these pamphlets or knowing where they may be obtained 

 will confer a favor by communicating with the Association at the foregoing 

 address. 



Wanted A copy of the October Bulletin of the Massachusetts Audubon 

 Society for the year 1920. Please forward to the office, 66 Newbury St., 

 Boston. 



Post Your Land. — The Audubon Society will be glad to furnish cloth 

 posters prohibiting shooting and trespassing to all who wish to use them in 

 an earnest endeavor to preserve our wild bird-life. These posters were 

 devised with the assistance and approval of the Commissioner of Con- 

 servation, Department of Fisheries and Game. Six of these posters, 



