Notes on the Birds. 327 
I have no definite records for Carroll County, but I recall having seen 
it at the Armstrong Pond near Camden, on the Wabash, near Pittsburg, in 
the Harness Swamp south of Burlington, and once on the old canal near 
Lockport. 
In Monroe County, a very distressing accident happened to one of my 
young friends, Antone Boisen, of Bloomington. If my note is correct, it 
was on May 5, 1886, when young Boisen crippled a Bittern and when at- 
tempting to catch it, the bird struck at him with its bill, hitting him in the 
eye and completely destroying his vision in that eye. 
42. IxXOBRYCHUS EXILIS (Gmelin). LEAST BITTERN. (191) 
A rather common summer resident in favorable situations such as the yvari- 
ous ponds and marshes of Vigo County, particularly the Five-mile Pond 
and the Goose Pond, in each of which I have found it nesting. Two females 
obtained, May 21, 1888, at the pond just north of Terre Haute, and another, 
also a female, the next day at the same pond. Two days earlier, May 19, 
Prof. W. S. Blatchley obtained a pair, male and female, and I saw five at 
the same pond; and on May 23, one of my students, Mr. Thomas Frazee, 
secured a male at the same place. A male in fine plumage taken at the 
Goose Pond, May 17, 1890. On May 31, I again visited the Goose Pond and 
found the Least Bittern nesting in considerable numbers. It was just the 
height of the nesting season. Twelve nests were found, three containing five 
eggs each, five with four eggs each, two with three each, and two with one 
each. Incubation had begun in three sets, the others were all fresh. 
A week later (June 6), I visited this pond again, accompanied by U. O. 
Cox, and obtained two more sets, one of five, the other of four, with incuba- 
tion well begun in each set. 
The Goose Pond contains (or did then), several hundred acres. The 
water was less than three feet deep, in most places not over one or two 
feet. In the middle or deeper part of the pond was a fine growth of pond 
lilies (Nymphza advena and Castalia tuberosa), both species abundant and 
blooming in profusion. Around the edges in the shallower parts were rank 
growths of cattails (Typha latifolia), rushes (Hquisetum limorum), vari- 
ous sedges (Carex), Arrowhead (Sagittaria), and doubtless other forms. 
And the water was well filled with duckweed (Lemna, Spirodela, Wolfiia, 
ete.), and several species of Potemogeton, Ranunculus, pickerel-weed, Cru- 
cifers, Scirpus, ete. The Least Bitterns’ nests were usually from a few 
inches to a foot above the water, and placed upon a few broken-down stems 
or leaves of cattails, but sometimes they were supported by leaves of Sagit- 
taria. 
We did not see a single bird on its nest, so sly were they in slipping away 
before we discovered them. In one case we saw the bird fly up from flags 
only a few inches from the nest. and in several cases the birds flew up and 
thus showed us where to expect to find their nests. 
43. ARDEA HERODIAS HERODIAS Linnweus. GREAT BLUE HERON. (194) 
A not very common summer resident. A few individuals arrive early in 
the spring and remain in and about suitable locations throughout the sum- 
