THE MUSEUM. 



223 



Fish Hawk's nest in a similar situa- 

 tion. In localities where they are pro- 

 tected, the Osprejs often place their 

 nests in such situations. 



As we approached the island where 

 the Herons were said to nest both spe- 

 cies of these birds lose and flew about 

 but the Night Herons greatly predom- 

 inated in point of numbers, there be- 

 ing perhaps a hundred pairs of them 

 to about twenty pairs of the Great 

 Blues. On landing we found nearly 

 every tree contained from one to five 

 nests of the Night Herons, the nests 

 being very slight affairs of sticks, about 

 a foot in diameter and containing only 

 a slight hoi ow for the eggs. We were 

 astonished to notice two or three brok- 

 en eggs under each of these nests, 

 each of these eggs being emptied of its 

 contents through a rough hole in the 

 side or end. For a time we were puz- 

 zled to account for this phenomenon, 

 but the mystery was finally solved. A 

 pair of Northern Ravens had a nest on 

 the island, and undoubtedly they had 

 sucked the Herons' eggs in order to 

 obtain food for their young. So com- 

 plete a destruction had they wrought 

 that only one nest of the Night Heron 

 contained an egg, hundreds of broken 

 eggs being found on the ground all 

 over the island. 



The Great l>lue Herons had better 

 success in caring for their treasures as, 

 owing to their larger size and greater 

 courage, they were able to fight off the 

 depredading Ravens. The nests of 

 the "Blues" weie huge affairs about 

 two or three feet across, being very 

 fiat and composed entirely of sticks, 

 which were well white-washed by the 

 excrement of the birds. Except in 

 three cases, the nests contained three 

 eggs each, the exceptions being two 



sets of five eggs and one of three. One 

 nest was found containing newlj- 

 hatched young. The nests were plac- 

 ed near the tops of small spruce trees 

 and averaged about twenty feet from 

 the ground. If fortunate the Great 

 Blues may rear about 60 to 80 young 

 this year to increase the numbers of 

 their colony. 



The Ravens' nest, which we found 

 later on, was composed of sticks and 

 very warmly lined with lambs' wool. 

 It contained five nearly fledged young, 

 and was situated on the limb of a 

 spruce tree about 25 feet from the 

 ground. The parent birds kept up a 

 loud angry croaking or cawing and 

 flew excitedly about during the time 

 we remained on the island, while the 

 young kept up a constant squalling for 

 something to eat. 



If the Ravens continue to reside on 

 the island through the summer, it will 

 be manifestly impossible for the Night 

 Herons to rear any young this season, 

 as they are too cowardly to make a 

 determined fight for their eggs against 

 the black robbers. 



Having taken all the observations 

 that I desired to, we now started on 

 the homeward journey, and arrived 

 there safely in due time well satisfied 

 with the knowledge gained on the trip. 



The Netsuke. 



There are, perhaps, few curios of 

 oriental origin that possess greater 

 charms for the collector than the Net- 

 suke, one of the most popular of Jap- 

 anese curiosities. 



A considerable degree of ignorance 

 exists with regard to the use of the 

 Netsuke; its derivation and the innu- 

 merable forms in which it is made are 

 also points about which there is a gen- 



