176 



THE OOLOGIST. 



day in the country. Our Mends await- 

 ed our arrival at the depot, and we 

 were soon on our way to the farm, 

 where we were to spend the following 

 day. I had before heard of a large 

 number of "strange" birds having been 

 seen in the vicinity and the next morn- 

 ing proceeded to investigate and find 

 out what kind of birds they were, as 

 none were sure as to the identification. 



Driving two miles through the fields 

 we left the horses and went about one 

 mile further on foot through grass, wild 

 rice, etc., as high as our heads. 



There was little air stirring, and the 

 sun beat down upon us unmercifully, 

 making the atmosphere about us nearly 

 as warm as a furnace, giving us who 

 were bird's nesting on Sunday, a fore- 

 taste of our future existence. 



We were some time wandering about 

 in the marsh, which is of vast extent, in 

 quest of the birds and had found no ap- 

 pearance of their late visitations, when 

 one of the party called "down" and 

 pointing to the northward said, "there 

 is one of the birds now." 



We remained hidden in the grass un- 

 til the bird had alighted, then wended 

 our way toward the spot, and were 

 compensated for our toil and persever- 

 ence, (and it was required on this oc- 

 casion to travel far,) by seeing, not one, 

 but hundreds of Black-crowned Night 

 Herons rise out of the grass, lazily fly 

 a short distance and descend again. 



There were acres of ground covered, 

 more or less, with the deposit of the 

 oirds, and the long grass was literally 

 tramped down in places where they 

 had roosted. 



The grass being so high, it was diffi- 

 cult to ascertain how many nests were 

 there, but a party who visited the 

 breeding place in the spring declares 

 that at least there were eight hundred 

 (800) nests, and from my own observa- 

 tions I have no doubt that he does not 

 exaggerate in the least. 



He states that the nests were at that 



time surrounded by water but built up 

 about fourteen to sixteen inches above 

 it. At the time I visited the heronry 

 the ground was dry. 



Having secured several birds, mostly 

 young, the old ones being minus the oc- 

 cipital plumes, we took our way home- 

 ward feeling fully repaid for our exer- 

 tions. 



I hope next spring to visit the heron- 

 ry and secure some eggs which I was 

 too late for this season. Should I have 

 the success I anticipate, will give, if de- 

 sired, a further account of my observa- 

 tions. 



Very respectfully, 



Robert C. Bennett. 



The Cuckoo in South Dakota. 



For the past three years I have been 

 collecting eggs in the vicinity of Aber- 

 deen, and have never found a Cuckoo's 

 egg until this last spring. 



While looking for a set of Mourn- 

 ing Dove's eggs on the 9th of 

 June, I passed through a thick clump < 

 of box-elder trees in a timber claim one 

 mile from the city, and happened to 

 look up just in time to see a Black- bill- 

 ed Cuckoo leaving her nest. I exam- 

 ined the nest, which was about six feet 

 from the ground, and found two fresh 



I revisited the place four days later, 

 and found a fine set of four eggs, and 

 secured the bird also. I have the eggs 

 in my collection now. They are of a 

 deep greenish blue in color, and nearly 

 elliptical in shape. 



Since then I have found six sets of 

 the black-billed and four of the yellow 

 variety. 



Merlin C. Johnson, 

 Aberdeen, S. Dak. 



The English Sparrow in Bay City, Mioh- 



In the first place, there were millions 

 of them. Every street was crowded 



