Vol i906 in ] Cameron, Nesting of Great Blue Heron. 255 



which they regarded with such suspicion that a sentinel was perched 

 on a high bough keeping watch on it each time that the nestlings 

 were fed. From this time (6 P. M.) until 11 P. M. the parents catered 

 to the wants of their offspring, and since out of a total of fourteen 

 old birds only three or four came at one time, the operation was 

 practically incessant. After dark the arrival of the parents was 

 signalled by the quick transition from a temporary lull to the furi- 

 ous quacking above mentioned on the part of the young birds. The 

 latter were fed on the small fish known as 'suckers' here, and are 

 able to manage quite a large gullet-full, two of the fish which fell 

 under the tree being seven inches long. Both parents alternately 

 fed the nestlings, nor would it have been possible otherwise. Be- 

 tween the screaming, flapping, and struggling of the young to be 

 fed, their rivalry for the first fish, and the efforts of the parent to 

 satisfy them it seemed as though the frail bough must break under 

 their united weight. 



As is well known, herons feed their young by regurgitation and 

 the end of the process has been thus graphically described: "The 

 struggle between the young heron and the parent seems like a 

 wrestling-match, the former standing up almost as high as the lat- 

 ter, the tree swaying to and fro, and both birds staggering upon 

 the nest to such an extent that the mother is occasionally compelled 

 to step off and stand on one of the branches to avoid falling. This 

 struggle occurs when all the food has been given, and the mother 

 is seeking to extricate her bill from that of her young." * 



On this occasion the nestlings became so excited as to leave the 

 nest altogether for the branch, and only saved themselves from a 

 fall into the river below by the combined use of bill, feet, and wings. 

 In a long-legged bird like a heron these arboreal gymnastics are 

 very curious to witness, and are sometimes unsuccessful, as evi- 

 denced by the many bodies found beneath the trees in large colonies. 



The only accessible nest in the colony of which I am now writing 

 contained three large full feathered young belonging to the same 

 brood as the unfortunate bird which had fallen under the tree. 

 As it was impossible to make a photographic exposure of them in 



1 Water Birds of North America, by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Vol. I, p. 19, 

 1884. 



