102 BIRDS 



Four to six light blue eggs are laid in a nest, usually- 

 composed of coarse twigs arranged in the nature of a plat- 

 form. While in the Devil's Lake region of North Dakota, 

 I encountered these herons nesting in the treeless sec- 

 tions. The nests, resembling those of bitterns, were built 

 in dense reeds and rushes bordering fresh-water lakes. 

 Black-crowned night herons breed chiefly in the United 

 States from the Atlantic across the continent to Britisli 

 Columbia. 



