THE OOLOGIST 



180 



I resolved to tiy once moi'e what could 

 be done. 



On May 7th we started down the St. 

 Jo river in a row boat and with our tent 

 and camp duffle for a good time and in- 

 tentions for a haul. 



On the following three days we col- 

 lected about two hundred eggs of this 

 species and also a lot of other eggs, 

 mainly haAvks. 



I say we, but in reality my companion 

 did all the work, while I was only con- 

 sidered fit to sit in camp and assist at 

 blowing the eggs, or in obeying his or- 

 ders from up the tree. 



Our tent pitched on the banks of Pig- 

 eon river, a rapid little stream that 

 flows into the St. Jo right at the heron- 

 ry, we turned in, and were lulled? to 

 sleep by the young Herons which kept 

 up a clatter far into the night. Bax'red 

 Owls also added their melodious and 

 pleasing notes to the night. Owl's notes 

 are always welcome to me. 



Only Jaarts of two days were spent 

 among the Herons" nests as one day 

 was wet and climbing was out of the 

 question as the limbs, covered with the 

 calcareous substance which accumu- 

 lates, were very slippery when wet. 

 Four trees were climbed one day and 

 two the other. The first tree ascended 

 was a sycamore, only seven feet in cir- 

 cumference, and it was the smallest in 

 girth of the lot which were climbed. It 

 was over forty feet to the first limb, but 

 was easy to climb as there were no 

 knots, snags or shoots to hamper the 

 collector. 



My companion used a strap in climb- 

 ing all rough trees and those very large 

 in circumference, but did not employ it 

 in this instance, and informed me that 

 he rarely used it in trees of less than 

 seven feet in circumference measured 

 three feet above the ground. 



The first tree lield twelve nests dis- 

 tributed on five huge sprangling limbs 

 at near the extremities. Ten of the 

 nests held eggs and seven contained full 



sets aggregating 33 eggs. Only com- 

 plete sets were lowered to me in the 

 basket attached to a fish line. The time 

 spent on this first tree was slightly over 

 an hour. When one considers that in 

 this space of time the climber ascends a 

 smooth trunk and then successively vis- 

 its a dozen nests distributed on five dif- 

 ferent branches, which radiate from the 

 trunk, lowers the selected sets of eggs 

 to the ground and then descends, and 

 all in about an hour, it is indeed sur- 

 prising. After one other climb of an 

 eight foot tree, which proved a hard one 

 as it was covered in spots with bother- 

 some shoots, we took lunch. 



Next he tackled the largest sycamore 

 in the heronry over ten feet in girth and 

 the one with the largest number of 

 nests of all, upwards of twenty. Of 

 these nests the lowest one was at about 

 seventy feet up and the highest over 

 eighty. There were sixteen nests of 

 the year. Two held incomplete sets, 

 three nests young birds and the others 

 yielded over forty eggs in complete sets. 

 He finished this tree in less than an 

 hour and a half. 



While he was up the trees I was con- 

 stantly wondering how he escaped fall- 

 ing and my idle time was divided in 

 taking notes and admiring his marvel- 

 ous intrepidity. Starting up a tree of 

 large girth he would take a strap of as 

 much as eighteen feet long* and coiling 

 the ends ai'ound his hands to the proper 

 length he would spur rapidly up the 

 bole. 



When he reached a limb he would 

 swing above it and readjust his strap 

 and go on. Or if he met with a snag or 

 a lot of shoots he I'ested on his spurs 

 and threw the strap above the obstruc- 

 tion and without loosening the support 

 in his hands. Once the stra.p caught on 

 a crooked shoot on the opposite side of 

 the tree and would not come loose. 

 Then, as I have seen him do before and 

 since, he merely went round the ti'ee 

 sideways and loosened the strap and 



