BIRDS THAT PREY AND SOME THAT DO NOT 487 



AUTHOR FEEDING YOUNG BLACK CRESTED NIGHT HERON 



of the dainty crow who never ate but little of any- 

 thing at one meal, and who evidently had the great- 

 est contempt for the graceful looking long-legged 

 glutton. 



The black-crested night herons formerly had a 

 heronry in some woods bordering on Flushing 

 meadows, but a Flushing saloonkeeper went there 

 with his gun and exterminated the whole flock. 

 This he did not do for the love of blood, or the de- 

 light of killing, but to supply the milliners with 

 the bird skins with which your mothers and sis- 

 ters decorated their hats. Before the ladies had 

 exterminated these birds, I used to visit their 

 haunts along with my friends the Gibson boys. I 

 attempted to rear one of the young herons, and if 

 young barn-owls are goblins in appearance, young 



