VOL. IX. 



The Oologist. 



ALBION, N. Y., JULY, 1892. 



NO. 7 



A Quawk Town. 



For several years it has been my de- 

 sire to visit the swamps in the northern 

 part of this, Henry, county and this 

 year I took a few days vacation and 

 made my visit. 



Old hunters told me about a "Town" 

 of some kind of birds, where there were 

 hundreds of nests and my friend, Keen- 

 er, promised to take me to the place if 

 I would come over. 



I arrived in Annawan about sundown 

 and we started for his home in a few 

 minutes. 



I soon began to see numbers of Am. 

 Bitterns and after a while he showed me 

 a flock of "Quawks" on the way to 

 their feeding grounds, and as the sun 

 went down and we went along the sand 

 hills I could see them everywhere. 



When nearly at his home "Doc" 

 showed me one lying in the road. It 

 Was a Black-crowned Night Heron. 



Next morning we went around one 

 end of the swamp to get a boat and I 

 saw great numbers of Herons flying 

 about a grove, and at that time thought 

 they were nesting there 



After getting our boat we "poled" 

 through the marsh — Doc poled and I 

 encouraged him. We found a number 

 of Yellow-headed Blackbirds. Coots, 

 Gallinules and Grebes nests, but it was 

 not until we had gone some 3 miles that 

 the Heronry came in full view. 



It seemed to me as I stood up in the 

 boat and saw their white necks in the 

 grass that 5000 wasn't too b:g a guess 

 for the number there. 



We soon got in the town which was a 

 large space where the birds had tramp- 

 ed down the grass to the top of. the wa- 

 ter, which was from 2 to 3 feet deep, 

 the grass — a coarse kind found in 



marshes — growing to the height of about 



3 feet above the water at this time. 

 This made a kind of floor and on it 



the nests were scattered all about. 



The nests were platforms from 2 to 6 

 in. deep, almost flat on top, so flat that 

 many eggs had rolled off into the water, 

 generally composed of green rushes and 

 the stalk of the marsh grass. But some 

 of them were very substantial affairs, 

 made almost entirely of twigs and quite 

 large sticks, brought from the grove 

 where I first saw the birds flying and 

 from which we could now see them com- 

 ing with sticks in their bills. 



Very few of the nests contained eggs 

 at this time as the town had been thor- 

 oughly robbed a week before and all 

 the eggs taken, 120 dozen I was told. ■ 



We only got one' set of 4 and a few of 

 three — most of the nests containing 2 

 or 1. 



On the 8th I again -visited the town, 

 and found several sets of 4 and a num- 

 ber of 3. 



From what I could see I think 3 is 

 about the full set and that 2 is common. 



4 is rare and I did not see any with 

 more thrn 4. The eggs were all fresh 

 o-* incubation was so slight as to be 

 scarcely noticed. 



The eggs are dark greenish blue when 

 first laid and in a set it is easy to pick 

 out the first laid by the variation in 

 color as they fade to a light greenish 

 blue shade very quickly. 



The eggs in a set sometimes show 

 very great variations in size and shape, 

 and the sets of 4 will average smaller 

 than sets of 3. I think. 



A set of 3 measures 2.10x1.48, 1.97x1.48 

 2.04x1.53 another measures 2.25x1.50, 

 1.92x1.47. 2.00x1.49. 



A set of four: 2.09x1.51, 1.95x1.50, 1.97 

 xl.52, 1.87x1.40. Five eggs average 

 2.09x1.47. 



