A Day with the Birds of a Hoosier Swamp 171 



the swamp with long, steady strokes of his mighty wings. 

 But as he nears the margin of the forest he suddenly stretches 

 his neck and legs to their full length, and in a right line, par- 

 tially closes his wings and swoops down with a whirring 

 noise in a direct line for the top of a large ash, in which is 

 his nest. We have often watched hawks and crows and buz- 

 zards descend from heights in this way, but never before have 

 we seen so loJig, a bird as a Great Blue Heron perform the feat, 

 so let us watch him closely. How long he is and how grace- 

 ful and like an aeroplane he glides in descending flight ! But 

 see ! When within a few yards of the nest he suddenly 

 doubles up his long neck close against his breast, lets fall his 

 legs in a very awkward, dangling manner, spreads his wings 

 and beats the air with a few well-timed strokes until he finally 

 clutches the limb on which he wishes to alight. 



During the day we witness the return of many others. 

 They all come from the north. Their fishing grounds are 

 probably on Wildcat Creek, some five or six miles to the 

 northward. In every case the descent is made in essentially 

 the same manner, and each is received with loud croakings 

 by those at home. 



But soon all become quiet, except an occasional malcontent 

 who, seemingly not satisfied with his lot, gives evidence of 

 his discontent in spirited quarrelings with those about him. 

 Now the return of another bird puts all in confusion again. 



Let us wade about among the trees and estimate the number 

 of nests they contain. It is easy to count at least 130 of them ; 

 and there are probably several more. Some trees have but a 

 single nest, but usually there are several in each. And here 

 are twelve in one tall ash, all in use. 



These maples and ash are quite tall and without limbs for 

 the first thirty to sixty feet, and as we have no climbing 

 irons we shall not be able to reach many of the nests. But 

 with the aid of a long rope we succeeded in getting to a few. 

 To one end of the rope we tie a long, light but stout string, 

 to the end of which we tie a weight of convenient size. This 

 we throw over a limb of the tree we wish to climb. Taking 



