THE OOLOGIST 



185 



three to six eggs, several sets of six 

 ■being found, and at the time of all 

 these visits, the eggs were almost 

 fresh; many of them perfectly so. 



The same nest is used by this bird 

 from year to year, and is gradually 

 added to after the manner of the Fish 

 Hav^fk. To get at these nests required 

 some ingenuity aside from the nervy 

 climbing which was necessary to reach 

 the top of the tree running up fifty 

 feet without a limb, and being four feet 

 and over through at the base. In order 

 to reach the eggs, I invented a scoop 

 by attaching an oval wire to the end 

 of a long bamboo fish pole, sewing my 

 handkerchief into the wire, making a 

 deep spoon, and with this I could reach 

 out and scoop up the eggs, one at a 

 time, and bring them in from the ends 

 of the limbs on which the nests were 

 situated in such positions as to be 

 wholly out of reach, because of the 

 danger of breaking limbs. 



Within this Heronry at different 

 times, Turkey Buzzards, Redtailed 

 Hawks, Barred Owls and Hooded Mer- 

 gansers have been found nesting. Yet 

 one of the strange things was that 

 though there were many elm trees 

 scattered throughout the Heronry of 

 equal size with the cotton wood and 

 sycamore trees, yet not a single Blue 

 Heron's nest was found in any of these 

 •elm trees; though the elm, owing to 

 the toughness of the wood, and its 

 bendability was by far the safer tree 

 in which not only to place the nest, 

 but also for the searcher for eggs to 

 climb. 



We present herewith two photos tak- 

 en in this Heronry by W. E. Loucks, 

 one of which gives a good idea of the 

 character of the territory in which 

 these birds nested; the other showing 

 one of the individual trees containing 

 the large number of 19 nests. 



Where the Herons have gone since 

 their home has been destroyed is a 



mystery. They are seen continually 

 passing up and down the river as of 

 yore. Few people are aware of the 

 fact that a Blue Heron may travel, and 

 frequently does travel fifty miles a 

 day each way to and from its feeding 

 ground, so they may have located a 

 considerable distance from their old 

 habitat. Ed. 



P. M. Silloway, so well and favorably 

 known to our readers, has recently 

 shaken the dust of the home of the 

 Long-billed Curlew — Mondana — from 

 his feet, and returned to "The best of 

 AH" — Illinois. We hope with our read. 

 ers that he did not leave that splen- 

 didly descriptive pen of his out West. 



Prof. L. Jones, the well-known bird 

 authority of Oberlin College recently 

 suffered the misfortune of losing ^ 

 member of his family; a son. A fine 

 splendid, robust lad, making the death 

 the more unexpected. Our sympathy 

 goes out to the sorrowing father and 

 family. 



IN POLITICS. 



Our old friend. Dr. Frank H. Lattin, 

 so well known to the readers of this 

 publication, has recently broken into 

 politics, and was recently elected Cor- 

 oner at Gaines, New York, having been 

 nominated on both the Democrat and 

 Republican tickets; his only opponent 

 being a candidate on the Prohibition 

 ticket. 



We are in the market for one pair 

 each of the following live birds. Can 

 you get any of them for us ? 



R. M. Barnes. 



169 Lesser Snow Goose. 



169 Blue Goose. 



170 Ross Snow Goose. 



171a American White-fronted Goose. 

 172a White-cheeked Goose. 

 172g Cackling Goose. 

 173 Brant Goose. 



175 White-bellied Brant. 



176 Emperor Goose. 



