50 The Wilson Bulletin— No. 103 



as those in the other nest, while the third youngster was but 

 one-half the size of his companions. Fish Crows are plen- 

 tiful and as a " Jackdaw " dearly loves his eggs in the shell, 

 doubtless the small number of eggs in some nests might be 

 readily accounted for. At this time it would have been fair 

 to infer that the usual or normal clutch was three (3j, but 

 from later observations I would think four are more com- 

 monly laid as a full complement. 



No other species of Heron was observed nesting with this 

 colony or occurring in the immediate locality. I did not 

 visit these birds again until June 6, 1915, when about forty 

 pairs were found nesting in the same fringe of bushes in 

 which the twenty pairs were located in 1912 ; while over one 

 hundred pairs of the same species were found on an adjacent 

 island nesting in a similar situation, except that the bushes 

 were larger and in a more compact group. 



At this date the contents, of the nests were 1 to 4 eggs each ; 

 a few held very young birds. The existence of this colony in 

 1912 is not known. On May 7, 1917, this same locality was 

 again visited and no birds were found nesting at either of 

 the two sites noted, and as but two or three of the birds were 

 to be seen drifting about in the vicinity it was surmised they 

 had abandoned the neighborhood. 



In preparing to leave the island in a row-boat, a landing 

 was made across a small cove from the line of bushes that 

 had formerly been used as nesting sites by these birds. On 

 stepping ashore I was startled at seeing hundreds of Louis- 

 iana Herons spring up from the open, treeless marsh and im- 

 mediately settle down again as I sank to cover. A few steps 

 into the thick matted rushes and again the birds arose on 

 hurried wingbeats almost directly upwards and drifted with 

 much croaking farther down the island. A few steps 

 more and I was in the midst of a nesting colony of these 

 birds ; every few yards a nest directly on the depressed 

 rushes where a high tide had beaten down the tops of the 

 tall rank growth. A hurried estimate of the number of these 

 birds made approximately 500 individuals, but whether both 



