Notes on the Habits of the Breeding Water Birds 25 



and wagon to haul a light skirt' to the pond, a distance of 

 four miles from his house, at which we were staying. 

 Launching the boat through the dense vegetation, a dis- 

 tance of over one hundred feet, was exceedingly ditiicult. 

 The weather however was fine, and every minute of our stay 

 in the pond was used to advantage. Although our second 

 visit was unproductive of tiuding nests of species addition- 

 al to those noted on the 11th, we did secure much further 

 data on the nesting habits of the herons, some of which 

 will be given in the sketches of the various species. 



Two nests of the Least Bittern Avere found in this 

 pond ; one on the 11th, containing three heavily incubated 

 eggs, and one on the 14th containing one egg. These nests 

 were built in cat-tail flags and were composed of the dead 

 stalks and blades of the different species of vegetation groAV- 

 ing in the pond. They were placed only a few inches above 

 the surface of the water and were well concealed, the tops of 

 the flags rising two or three feet above the water. They were 

 simply shallow ])latforms, apparently hastily constructed, 

 the depression beiug barely noticeable. The set of three 

 eggs collected is now^ in the collection of G. R. Rossigiiol. 

 They are pale bluish white and average 1.25x.00. I be- 

 lieve that Least Bitterns breed in considerable numbers in 

 this pond, but on account of the rank growth of vegetation 

 covering nearly its entire area I was unable to explore it 

 thoroughly and only the two nests mentioned above were 

 found. I very rarely caught sight of one of the birds, so 

 successful were they in hiding in the tall reeds. 



Only a small percentage of the Least Bitterns that 

 migrate along this coast remain in this section to bree<l. 

 In both spring and autumn numbers of them frequent the 

 salt marshes, becoming very active at night-fall. I doubt 

 if any of the few pairs that remain here to breed ever nest 

 in these marshes, but retire to the isolated fresh water 

 ponds on the larger islands, where they are seldom mo- 

 lested. 



Ardea herodias — Great Blue Heron. 



This picturesque bird is moderately common but 



