172 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 101 



hold of the end of the cord that hang-s over the Hnib, the 

 rope is drawn up i until it hangs to the ground in a long loop. 

 One now has no difficulty ascending even very large and tall 

 trees, if he makes use of both the rope and the tree. One of 

 us climbs this large maple. There are eleven nests in it, but 

 most of them so far out on the limbs that we dare not ven- 

 ture out to them, so we must be content to stand in the main- 

 top and look down into the nests with their thirty beautiful 

 light green eggs. The usual number to the nest seems to 

 be three, though there are several with only two each, and 

 a few with four as the full nest complement. Not more than 

 four were found in any nest. There are some empty nests 

 and several containing young birds of varying ages, — some 

 just hatched, others large and lusty youngsters, almost ready 

 to fly. Indeed, one large fellow is standing bolt upright on 

 the edge of the nest, and as I attempt to reach him, in try- 

 ing to fly to another limb, he falls to the ground, a good hun- 

 dred feet below, his life paying the penalty for his rashness. 



But we must not devote the entire day to the herons ; the 

 swamp has many other objects well worth seeing. There are 

 other birds that make this their summer home. Here among 

 the button-bushes and the patches of Scirpus we tind the 

 curious well-built nests of the Red-wing Blackbird, — Amer- 

 ica's starling. These nests are seen on all sides woven 

 among and hanging in the tall rushes or resting in the 

 crotches of low bushes. The Crow Blackbird, next to the 

 Heron, is the most numerous and noisy bird of the place. 

 Their nests are of mud and grass and small sticks placed in 

 large knot-holes, on top of broken-ofif snags, in forks of 

 trees, and even in deserted woodpecker holes. We see these 

 nests at all sorts of distances from the ground ; here is one 

 on the top of a small rotting stump only three feet above the 

 water, while there is one fully sixty feet high in the fork 

 of that dead maple. 



The breeding season is nearly over with the Crow Black- 

 bird, for only young birds are seen in the nests, which nearly 

 all seem about ready to leave. 



