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others flying overhead. The uproar was almost deafening, and the odour 

 arising from the filth with which the trees and ground were covered 

 was extremely disagreeable. 



"VVe tramped all through the heronry, and calculated that it must 

 extend at least half a mile in each direction. The trees were swamp 

 ash {Fraxinus samhucijolia) , and at least two nests were built on every 

 available one, while some of the lai-ger ones contained as many as seven 

 or eight. The clutch seemed in all cases to consist of three ; and the 

 nearly full grown yonug were scarcely to be distinguished in plumage ■ 

 from the adnlts. When driven from the nest, howeA^er, they flew very 

 awkwardly, and alighted as quickly as possible. Numbers of the 

 parents were feeding their young, and the capacious mouths and throats 

 of some which we shot were completely filled with fish, about an inch 

 long, which were evidently intended for food for their hungry offspring. 

 The nests were all of the same pattern— great cumbersome piles of 

 sticks, about a foot thick, but with a very shallow cavity, and no 

 lining. They were placed from twenty to forty feet from the gi'ound, 

 in some instances, next the trunk of the tree, and, in othei's, some 

 distance out on the large branches. The birds were very tame, making 

 no attempt to fly until we began to climb the trees on which they 

 Avere ; and even then they moved lazily off, and manifested little or no 

 alarm at our near approach to thfur young. It is sur])rising that such 

 large and powerful birds should show so little inclination to defen,d their 

 young ; however, as the following incident will show, it is not always 

 in the largest and sti^ongest birds that this instinct is most perfectly 

 developed. 



On the 28th June a most peculiar fight was witnessed by Mr. 

 Scott in a willow swamp about four miles from the city. The com- 

 batants were a common garter snake (Eutaenia sirtalis Baird and 

 Gii-ard), about a foot and a half long, which was ti-ying to devour a 

 young Wilson's thrush (Turdus fuscescens Steph.), and the pai'ent 

 thrushes, Avho were endeavouring to rescue it, aided in their efforts by 

 two catbirds (Mimus carolinensis(L.) Gr.) and two robins (T. migratorius 

 L.) The six birds were greatly excited, and every feather stood on 

 end, as each one dashed in turn at the head of the snake. How the 

 latter was defending himself could not be seen, as he was almost com 



