THE MARSHES OF MALHEUR 103 



we had ; they drank the alkali water ; they slept 

 in the boat or on muskrat houses while they 

 hunted up and down the waters of the lake and the 

 tule islands. They saw the great flocks of white 

 pelicans, cormorants, terns, gulls, grebes, and 

 other birds. They saw the white herons in slow, 

 stately flight wherever they went, but it was not 

 till after several days that they located the big 

 colony here on the island by the canebrake, the 

 greatest colony they had ever seen. What a sight 

 it must have been, thousands of these birds, daz- 

 zling white in the sun, coming and going from 

 the feeding-grounds, and hovering over their 

 homes ! 



" On all sides were the homes, built up a foot or 

 two from the surface, each having three or four 

 frowsy-headed youngsters or as many eggs. At 

 each end of the colony a plumer sat hidden in his 

 blind. At the first crack of the gun, a great 

 snowy bird tumbled headlong near its own nest. 

 As the shot echoed across the lake, it sounded the 

 doom of the heron colony. Terror-stricken, on 

 every side white wings flapped, till the air was 

 completely filled. Shot followed shot unremit- 

 tingly as the minutes passed into hours. Still the 



