° i9i5 J Bailey, Plum Island Night Herons. 429 



wondering what all the uproar was about. Their grayish brown 

 coats contrasted rather markedly with the green of the foliage but 

 against the duller tone of the sand, harmonized to a degree almost 

 perfect until their presence was revealed by motion. 



On the whole the hour spent here was a novel and interesting 

 experience and I congratulated myself for chancing upon it, believ- 

 ing that an occasional visit to the place in the future, would offer 

 an opportunity for varying my studies, previously confined, to 

 the smaller land birds found near home. 



My next visit to the locality was made the following spring, 

 May 21, 1905, and recorded in my note-book somewhat as follows : — 



"By trolley and afoot to Plum Island, down as far as 'Long 

 Point,' to visit the heron rookery there. The day a fine mild, clear 

 one with light northwesterly wind. Was accompanied on this 

 trip by F. D. B. The object of our visit today was to secure a 

 few sets of eggs for our collections and make a few observations 

 on nesting habits in general. As we topped the steep sand hills 

 and looked clown on and across the wooded basin which the herons 

 had chosen for a nesting place, one could not, even though he be 

 of a reserved or nonchalant disposition, fail to be impressed with 

 the lively scene there presented to view. Several hundred birds 

 rose at our appearance on the rim of the hollow and with much flap- 

 ping and wheeling about, voiced their resentment at our disturb- 

 ance of their domestic peace, with discordant, raucous, guttural 

 squawking, which was increased to a tumultuous din when we 

 descended into the lower ground to the precincts of their nests. 

 Through rank tangles of beach plum, black cherry, grape vine, 

 catbrier and poison ivy, we pushed our way to the more open ground 

 under some of the larger trees, in which many of the nests were 

 to be found. The tangles were made much more disagreeable of 

 penetration by chalkings and the stench of refuse underfoot, these 

 further adding to the natural protection afforded by briers and the 

 closely interlacing branches. 



In trees of shad, poplar, maple and elm, the majority of the nests 

 seemed to be placed, with fewer numbers in oak and tupelo. Posi- 

 tions varying in height, ranging from six to twenty-five or even 

 thirty feet from the ground, available crotches, chiefly governing 

 the choice of position. A few, probably a dozen, I noted, were 



