[108] BIRDSOFOREGON 



thriving colony until Finley (icpSb) was able to report only two birds 

 in the valley. That was apparently the low ebb, however, for in 1911 

 Finley found 61 birds and in 1912., 2.3 adult birds and n nests. Willett 

 (1919) found 2.0 pairs nesting in the Malheur Lake Reservation, the only 

 colony he could locate. Even though so greatly diminished in numbers, 

 the birds still return each year to the valley to nest, shifting the location 

 of their breeding colony from year to year. 



Our own notes on the varying fortunes of this colony began in 1911 

 when Jewett first visited it and found 16 pairs breeding on the Double O 

 Ranch. In 1919, Gabrielson saw a few nests still containing well-grown 

 young on the Island Ranch. There were numerous other nests that may 

 have been occupied, but the visit was too late to determine accurately the 

 number breeding. In 192.2., Jewett and Dr. L. E. Hibbard visited the 

 colony, which was again located in willows on the Island Ranch, found 

 about 40 nests with young or eggs, and counted 80 adults. Some nests 

 contained as many as 10 eggs, and numbers of dead young were on the 

 ground. Dr. W. B. Bell, Jewett, and Gabrielson next visited the colony 

 in 192.6, again on the Island Ranch. They found about 2.5 nests contain- 

 ing eggs or young and counted 40 adults. In 1930, the colony was near 

 Burns in a clump of willows at Potter Swamp. There were only 10 or 12. 

 nests with young, but whether this was the entire population is not 

 known. 



The nests are usually built of sticks and are located in the tops of the 

 stunted willows, generally not more than 10 to 15 feet from the ground, 

 so that the great white herons are visible for a long distance. When the 

 birds locate in the marshes, however, as occasionally happens, the nests 

 are more or less carefully made structures of tule stems woven into bent- 

 over tules. The colonies, like those of all other herons, are interesting, 

 if smelly places. The willows and the ground beneath are more or less 

 whitewashed and strewn with rotting remains of fish, frogs, small 

 animals, and other food brought to the young. There are also usually a 

 number of dead young, adding to the stench. These rookeries have a mag- 

 netic attraction for crows, magpies, and ravens that hover about or perch 

 in nearby trees awaiting a chance to snatch the unguarded eggs or young. 

 Coyote tracks and telltale prints of any other four-footed predator that 

 happens to be in the vicinity are usually in evidence on the ground beneath 

 the trees. The adults are not particularly wild, sailing back and forth 

 over the colony during our visits or standing in a loose company approxi- 

 mately 100 yards away. 



Mearns (1879), i n h* 8 rcpo rt on Lieutenant Wittich's collection at Fort 

 Klamath, reported one egret collected there on January 8, 1878. Merrill 

 (1888) reported that a few were seen at Fort Klamath during the summer 

 and that a single bird passed the winter on Wood River. These two are 

 the only winter records for the State. J. J. Furber, when warden, fre- 



