THE OOLOGIST 27(4-.Wivo 17 
two months later of the young. The 
Herons arrive here from the South in 
the first days of April and start at 
once to look over their previous nests, 
repairing and strengthening them for 
their occupancy. In the middle of 
April they start laying eggs. About 
a month later, the young appear and 
now the work of getting nourishment 
for them is no easy matter. They have 
to fly as far as fifty miles, and can 
be seen near Grand Island and Navy 
Island standing in Niagara River, 
watching for fish, with which they re- 
turn to the young to satisfy their rav- 
enous appetites. The long flight is 
necessary because it is impossible for 
them to get down to the ground in the 
heronry on account of the dense shrub- 
bery. 
A continuous croaking of the old 
birds is heard. It takes fully from 
two to two and a half months until 
the young can take care of themselves, 
and to bring them down out cf their 
nests is no easy problem, 
The bark of these elms is from one 
to one and a quarter inches thick, 
making it necessary to plant the spurs 
very deep to sustain the weight of 
the body. During the time we were 
up to the nests, the Herons circled 
above us with loud croaking, alight- 
ing occasionally on some high point to 
watch our maneuvers. Great care is 
necessary for approaching the nest 
from below, as the slightest distur- 
bance of the nest brings down a show- 
er of the dry white droppings of the 
birds, which is extremely irritating 
in case it reaches an eye. AS we ap- 
proach home, the female leaves the 
nest and fliles in wide circles over our 
heads, croaking defiance to the intrud- 
er. 
To get the young Herons out of the 
nest is extremely difficult, as they are 
large and awkard birds, and cling tea- 
aciously to every branch within reach. 
Nearly all the Zoos in the United 
States have in the past been provided 
with birds from this Heronry, and 
when properly treated their existence’ 
can be maintained in captivity for a 
number of years. 
The Herons of this section only 
raise one brood a year, 
It is hoped that every reader of this 
articles will use every effort to pre- 
serve this nesting site of these stately 
birds. 
OTTOMAR REINECKE. 
-_—_—_—_—__—_—_e<— 
Books Received. 
Birds of the Leeward Islands, by 
Prof. Charles B. Corey, 1909. 
This is a pamphlet review of the 
work of Mr. John F. Ferry upon these 
islands and contains lists relating to 
the various islands visited aggregating 
161 species. It is issued by-the.Field 
Museum of Natural History. It is 
gotten up with the usual evidence of 
eare-taking accuracy which character- 
izes all of Professor Corey’s work, 
and will be a reference manual relat- 
ing to the ornithology of these islands 
fer years to come. 
Catalogue of Canadian Birds, by 
John Macown and James M. Macown; 
Government Printing Office, Ottawa. 
Canada, 1909—issued by the Depart- 
ment of Mines, Geological Survey 
Branch. 
This splendid work is a re-issuance 
of the catalogue of Canadian Birds 
originally issued in parts as follows: 
Part. 1, -1900; Part 2, 1903) Part 3, 
1904, by Prof. John Macown. Though 
much of it is re-written and all of it 
is brought down to date, containing as 
it does 761 pages, is a monumental 
work upon the subject of Canadian 
Birds, by far the most complete now 
in éxistence. It is a splendid produc- 
tion and indeed a highly valuable ad- 
dition to the literature of that subject: 
