98 



THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



coming out I struck very near shore, 

 the new rookery from which I took the 

 following sets: — 1-3 Red. Egret, inc. 

 begun, ne.st similar to that of the 

 other heron nests but larger, placed 

 about ten feet up in midst of an ex- 

 tensive Little Blue Heron rookery. 

 Eggs measure 2.18 x 1.44, 2.04 x 1.47, 

 2.14 X 1.49. I also found two incom- 

 plete sets so left them for another day. 

 1-3 Green Heron, inc. very slight. 

 On my way up to an Anhinga's nest 

 I chanced to look down and saw this 

 nest on top of a living cypress stump, 

 about two feet up. Bird not .seen. I 

 find it to be a fact that one rarely sees 

 this little Heron around its nest. An- 

 other fact I have noticed is that they 

 choose i-solated spots for nesting, pre- 

 ferring not to be near any other Green 

 Heron. They are very unlike other 

 Herons in this respect. 1-5 Anhinga 

 inc. heavy, nest well made of sticks, 

 bark and weeds, lined with Spanish 

 moss and cypress needles. The nest 

 was on edge of a Heron rookery. 

 ALso took a set of four in similar posi- 

 tion." 



On the 6th of same montli my 

 friend Oilman S. Winthrop and my- 

 vSelf visited the swamp again. This 

 time to get the incomplete .sets of Red. 

 Egret, left on the 2d. On our way in 

 we fell in with some Grackle, Egret 

 and Green Heron nests. My notes 

 read, "16 Purple Grackle, inc. .slight, 

 nest about 30 feet up in top of a very 

 slim cypress. Birds were veiy pug- 

 nacious. Was compelled to use two 

 trees in obtaining this set. Nest very 

 large and well built of mud, mo.ss, 

 sticks and .straw, lined with pine need- 

 les. There were other nests, but as 



we were in a hurry did not take them. 

 From this same clump of trees we 

 took 2-3 Red. Egret and 1-3 Green 

 Heron and a little further on in a 

 bunch of Spanish mo.ss well hidden, I 

 took a .set of four, Green Heron. 



We then wentj to the old rookery to 

 get those .sets of Red. Egret, but to 

 my chagrin one nest was eiupty and 

 the two eggs were floating around in 

 the water. I went to the other nest 

 and found it contained three eggs, 

 which I took, marked and placed in 

 my box. Gilman took a set of three 

 and found a nest containing two, 

 which he left. I .saw a poorly con- 

 structed platform of a nest a good 

 way up in a small cypress and think- 

 ing it might contain some thing, 

 climbed up. It contained a set of 

 four verj' large eggs and I may add 

 the eggs contained very large young. 

 I took another set of three Egret and 

 on the way out a .set of four Fla. Blue 

 Jay not five feet from a Little Blue 

 Heron's nest containing three eggs." 

 We then went ashore, donned dry 

 clothes, packed up our eggs and started 

 for home. On the way the heaviest 

 rain I have ever seen struck us. After 

 raining in torrents for a while, hail 

 fell in large flakes, pattering so heavily 

 on the mules that they seemed not 

 to know what to do. At times they 

 tried to run and again they would 

 stop, refusing to move. A vivid flash 

 of lightening, followed immediately 

 by a loud clap of thunder, frightened 

 botli mules and us. The buggy was 

 very open and the rain had fair play 

 upon us. When we reached home we 

 were drenched. During all this tain 

 Gilman was sitting upon my knee 



