V<d i906 II]t ] Cameron, Nesting of Great Blue Heron. 259 



shot through a sheet of \ inch plate glass into Mr. Henry Evan's 

 drawing room (in the island of Jura), left a clean round hole in the 

 glass, and was picked up inside the room, a crumpled mass of blood 

 and feathers. 



To return to the heronry: half of the next day was spent here, 

 but it was found that all the herons were, if anything, more shy 

 than those on the Powder River, although we ascertained that three 

 nests contained three full-feathered birds in each, which had not 

 yet flown. One of these, placed at the extremity of a dead branch 

 free from surrounding foliage, showed clear cut against the sky, 

 and lent itself better to photography than any nest we had seen. 

 Every effort was, therefore, made to obtain a picture of this nest 

 with the young birds standing erect in it, which might even have 

 been accomplished from the ground had they shown themselves 

 a little more complacent. After focusing with an 8 by 10 camera 

 and inserting the plate we retired for three hours in order to restore 

 confidence to the herons if possible. Pleasant it was to lean against 

 a fallen cottonwood by the softly murmuring river, and watch it 

 ripple on the yellow sand where Spotted Sandpipers ran about 

 industriously, or jerked their tails in company with their newly 

 fledged young. The air was full of bird voices ; in the trees over- 

 head Arkansas Kingbirds chattered and fluttered, solicitous for 

 the safety of their broods, although the young birds could now fly. 

 Occasionally an excited heron wheeled above them, but I noticed 

 that these audacious flycatchers refrained from attacking their 

 long-legged island comrades. Here was indeed a great variety 

 of bird life: we saw a Belted Kingfisher come to the island and a 

 Bonaparte's Gull fly slowly past, both rare on the Yellowstone. 

 At the expiration of the above-mentioned time we returned to the 

 heronry, but the nestlings still persisted in their squatting attitude 

 and the old birds kept away. When it was sought to make an 

 exposure of the nest from the adjoining tree two of the nestlings 

 flew clean away, but the third remained, and might pass in the 

 resulting photographs for an adult heron incubating her eggs. 



On September 24, Lance Irvine, foreman of the Crown W ranch, 

 and T. Hughes Parry were returning from Macrae's ranch where 

 they had been branding foals for Mr. J. H. Price. As they rode 

 up Spring Creek, which empties into Fallon Creek, a flock of large 



