THE OOLOGIST 



61 



that so-called river, the Hillsborough, 

 which with the Halifax and Indian 

 rivers, all long, narrow lagoons of salt 

 water forming a peculiar coast line for 

 nearly three hundred miles along the 

 Atlantic seaboard in this sub-tropical 

 region. 



We had all done some collecting both 

 the season mentioned and in previous 

 years, and naturally when we consult- 

 ed we decided to join and try our joint 

 forces in this, to us, comparatively 

 newer tield. Now it is a fact that col- 

 lecting in any form costs money when 

 you are away from home, and I can 

 say in all sincei'ity that southern col- 

 lecting is the most expensive of all, for 

 the residents of that region are on a 

 warm trail after the coin of the winter 

 tourists. 



Well! passing over preliminaries, 

 with the dickering and delays— we at 

 last stai'ted on our trip in a sloop-rig- 

 ged craft manned by a crew of two col- 

 ored boys, or plain niggers as they are 

 invariably called south of the Mason 

 and Dixon line. The little cabin was 

 nearly eight feet wide and over eleven 

 feet long and four and a half high. The 

 table was with drop leaves, and on the 

 center-board, with a berth on each 

 side, while lockers and space forward 

 gave room for most of our baggage. 

 One of us slept on the floor, and the 

 crew bunked in the cockpit protected 

 by a tarpaulin. 



Tha weather was perfect, and after 

 victualing our craft with eggs at 35 

 cents a dozen and canned goods: and 

 everything else in proportion, we start- 

 ed out with intentions of a week's trip 

 on Hillsboro, Halifax and through the 

 Haulover to Indian river, with the 

 Thousand Islands as a center of opera- 

 tions. Our yacht only drew seven in- 

 ches and we could run her anywhere, 

 and the darkeys were excellent as 

 workers and good natured to a fault if 

 well fed and properly praised. 



A full account of this trip would take 



fifty pages; so 1 will only give a short 

 account of our work and takes, with- 

 out entering into details or describing 

 date and locality. Our first stop after 

 running onto a shoal in a wide but 

 shallow channel was to anchor along- 

 side of a low island literally covered 

 with herons. It was difficult to keep 

 the boys and crew from shooting ten 

 times more than we had use for, but I 

 had previous experience and headed 

 them off. As it was, skinning was in 

 order until midnight in our crowded 

 quarters and then not one-third of the 

 supply of three species of Herons was 

 in shape. 



Next morning we made a raid on the 

 nests and during the day we secured at 

 that place and two other heronies over 

 300 eggs and could have taken 500 more. 

 In only a very few instances were posi- 

 tive identifications secured, and I would 

 give but very little for the entire lot 

 for my own private collection. This is 

 the usual manner of collecting, and as 

 the nests are massed together and sev- 

 eral species of Herons breeding in one 

 tree or gi'oup, it is next to impossible 

 to secure perfect identification. If ac- 

 curate notes were taken and the parent 

 bii'd secured, the time consumed would 

 make the prices much higher than they 

 are at present for Herons' eggs, 



During the trip we secured a few sets 

 of accurately identified Louisiana, 

 Snowy, Little Blue and Great Blue 

 Heroes. We felt confident that some 

 of our eggs were those of the White 

 and Yellow-crowned Night Herons as 

 the birds were shot, but they were not 

 good enough for an honorable collector 

 to offer in exchange. Let me tell of 

 the condition of one of these heronies 

 whether in cypress swamps around 

 fresh water or in srubs or mangroves 

 about salt water. I have seen hun- 

 dreds af nests in one group in a space 

 not over ar acre in extent. As many 

 as fifty nests are seen in one tree. In 

 most cases the nests are built low and I 



