24 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



itp to come back and sit on the edges of 

 their great bulky nests, craning their long 

 necks from one side to the other, wonder- 

 ing, no doubt, what those odd-looking 

 bi})eds were about under there. The illus- 

 tration here shown is one of the views taken. 



The topmost nest seen'shows one of the 

 Herons, with his out-stretched neck, stand- 

 ing up his full length. Underneath this 

 nest will be seen two other nests, one be- 

 hind the other ; while on the lower hang- 

 ing long branch is seen a large bushy nest, 

 which was the nearest to us. The Heron 

 on this nest is noticed with his neck 

 drawn into his shoulders and sitting low 

 on his legs. 

 Some of the 

 nests were very 

 bulky and thick 

 from being ad- 

 ded to year after 

 year. 



On an other 

 trip being un- 

 dertaken some 

 weeks later, with 

 Mr. W. K. Bry- 

 ant, better suc- 

 cess followed our 

 outing. We^ot 

 down to the 

 rookery by the 

 right trail, and 

 spent the day 

 among the queer 

 q u a k e r s. On 

 passing down the 

 hillside a lone, 

 tall, bare .syca- 

 more tree is 

 seen. It • has 

 twenty-two 

 nests .scattered 

 through its 

 branches. Eggs could be seen in many of 

 the nests — from two to four — and some had 

 downy chicks in them. A view was taken 

 of this airy castle and called the " Plum 

 Pudding Tree." 



On the sound of a gun the Herons all 

 took to wing down the canyon, from a 

 distance looking like a flock of ye ancient 

 winged monsters, half reptilian in character. 

 The nests] were more or le.ss inaccessible 

 without a rope or climbers. They were 

 placed on high hanging branches, on high 

 limbs of the sycamore, principally. Some 

 few were .scattered through the live oaks 

 and maples here and there in the canyon 



GREAT BLUE HERONS AND NESTS 



along the water course. All were placed 

 from twenty-five to one hundred feet up. 



Eggs were taken of sets of two, three and 

 four, showing no variation from a large 

 series in my collection. 



There must have been all of two hundred 

 and fifty nests in this rookery. The old 

 residents say it has been there for years. 

 To my knowledge it has been in this can- 

 yon for eighteen years. 



It was an odd sight to see the actions of 

 the young chicks we had taken when put 

 on the ground together. The largest gray- 

 haired chick of the lot was a snapping fel- 

 low, striking at most anything with his 



long bill He 



started in to 



quarrel with his 



^ mates, and it 



V^.'i'i was but a few 



7 -.Hi 'i.«'r. minutes before 



he had them all 

 licked out, so 

 that they all 

 managed to 

 crawl off" out of 

 his reach in dis- 

 gust. Once in 

 a while he would 

 stretch out his 

 neck to see if 

 someone wanted 

 to pick a fuss. 

 All were more 

 or le.ss covered 

 with long gray- 

 ish hair - like 

 down, longer on 

 the neck than 

 on other parts 

 of the body; bill 

 and feet were a 

 greasy black ; 

 eyes, grayish- 

 white. Their only notes were of a rasping, 

 Sqiiaking sound. At times when lying 

 quietly they would give out a few low 

 peeping notes, like sick chicks. Plant life 

 under the trees where the excrement fell, 

 was white with it, and a strong smell arose 

 continually. Fish bones were scattered about 

 plentifully .showing the young were well-fed. 

 The old Heron's time must have been 

 well occupied in their long flights to and 

 from the bay shores (some six miles in a 

 bee line) to get to the fishing grounds. As 

 .soon as the young ones are old enough they 

 all go to the bay .shores to spend the fall 

 and winter months. 



