Song Birds and Water Fowl 
ous colonies are scattered throughout New Eng- 
land and other States; yet the seclusion of their 
resorts makes them as unfamiliar to the general 
public as are the rarest of the so-called land- 
birds. 
& 
The much larger and handsomer ‘‘ great blue 
heron’? is usually asolitary bird, and much more 
of a rarity. On reaching Lake George I learned 
that this species was sometimes to be seen in the 
swamps across the lake. As the ‘‘ great blue”’ 
was one of my ornithological ambitions, the in- 
formation was extremely welcome. After two 
or three preliminary rows on the lake, for mus- 
cular development, I started out one morning 
to find the prize. The round trip was about ten 
miles—country folks have vo idea of distances, 
and this is the average of many wildly contra- 
dictory estimates—and my broad and heavy 
boat was warranted not to capsize in any storm. 
I wandered through the waters of the swamp, 
among water-lilies—of four species — bright 
skies above, and hundreds of red-winged black- 
birds around, with numerous other sorts that, at 
another time, would have been quite entertain- 
ing enough, by themselves, for a pleasant excur- 
246 
