ii6 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



Glossy Ibis at Heron Lake. 



THE great ten-acre heronry on the south 

 side of Heron Lake was long a center 

 of attraction to me in the early summer 

 of '94. The many curious habits of the mature 

 Herons, the awkward ways of the striplings, 

 the wonderful differences in nesting conditions, 

 the whilom presence of other species of birds, 

 in singles, pairs, or flocks, all gave to my visits 

 a never- failing variety of interest. 



There seem to be, often, times of unusual 

 restlessness among gregarious birds, even in 

 the midst of domestic duties. On the i6th of 

 June 1 found such a condition prevailing, 

 Night Herons, Franklin's Gulls, and Forster's 

 Terns making the air mazy with their weaving 

 flights and hysterical with their mingled cries. 

 In sheer curiosity I fired my gun, and such a 

 sight ! From over all those acres of coarse 

 sedge and cane rose myriads of birds. And 

 suddenly there wheeled majestically into view 

 a pair of great white birds, Ardeas, without 

 doubt ; but whether occidentalis or egrctta 

 will never be known, for, after circling in 

 stately curves, nearer and farther, they disap- 

 jjeared, and I never saw them again. Though 

 they appeared to me fully as large as our com- 

 mon (ireat Blues, or even larger, I am skep- 

 tical as to these specimens being A. occidentalis, 

 this species never having been recorded in the 

 State. But by that curiously common coinci- 

 dence according to which we often note rarities 

 in groups I saw, while watching the Ardeas, a 

 flock of six blackish birds, smaller than the 

 Night Heron and of lighter flight. A nearer 

 approach made plain their sickle bills, and 

 their identity as Ibises became complete. But 

 what variety? 



On June 26, a sister coming to visit us just 

 as I was about starting for the lake, I took her 

 with me, retaining the collecting box and the 

 camera, but thinking the gun ungallant — senti- 

 mentally true, but, practically, a sad mistake ' 



"Sit here, with baby, in the buggy," I said, 

 as we reached the further margin of the true 

 shore line, " and watch, as I get far out beyond 

 your sight (for tallness of the grass), to the 

 border of the heronry ; you will see such a 

 sight as you may never see again." Fifteen 

 minutes of hard wading brought me to the 

 heronry. Many a yell, let loose for the 

 spectacular benefit of the waiters on the 

 shore, aroused the local birds, and among them 

 my three (supposed) pairs of Ibises, who now 

 flew back and forth, centering their movements 

 alxjut a certain spot which I recognized as 

 being located in a narrow strip of canebrake, 

 pushing into the prevalent sedge grass, a 

 " strip " which I knew to be peopled by a 



sparse overflow from the neighboring Heron 

 ()klahoma. Nearer and nearer, as I apjjroached 

 this spot, the Ibises ventured, and yet I never 

 dreamed that they were nesting. Entering the 

 strip I noted how the Heron younglings had 

 grown since the visit of the previous Saturday ; 

 a few nests containing belated eggs were casu- 

 ally observed, and two nests, about twenty 

 feet apart, containing the one four, the other 

 two eggs, of a bluer tinge then attracted my 

 sight. For a moment I glanced at them curi- 

 ously, and then a thrill ran over me from head 

 to foot, for I realized that these were Glossy 

 Ibis's eggs ! Then I glanced upward, and 

 realization crystallized into certainty; for there, 

 nearly above my head, and well within gun 

 range, were two pairs of the Ibises, the rich 

 chestnut of their bodies gleaming in the sun as 

 they hovered about awkwardly, anxiously, with 

 legs half dropped as if to alight and scare away 

 the intruder. 



And now I looked more critically at the 

 nests, which proved to be radically unlike those 

 of the Night Heron, and as radically unlike the 

 descriptions given in the books, as a single 

 glimpse at the accompanying cut will show. 

 Our books and data tell us that Heron's eggs 

 are deposited on broken-down rushes, which is 

 exactly as true as it is to say that the roof 

 of a house rests upon a stone foundation. On 

 the basis of a broken-down tussock of grass or 

 reeds the Herons build their nests of canes, 

 layer after layer, to the depth, sometimes, of 

 sixteen inches or more. A few fine cane-tips 

 form the scanty lining, when lining there is, 

 and upon these the eggs are laid. But as for 

 the Ibises — these two nests were made as fol- 

 lows : where canes grew thickest and were 

 beaten down by storm and snow about ten 

 feet each way from any Heron nest, the birds 

 had placed a rather thick but flatly hollowed 

 layer of broad and soft grass stems. The 

 whole structure, in each case, was utterly art- 

 less. Certainly, the Ibises had not gone to 

 school to their neighbors, nor apparently to 

 any other beings. 



The eggs were tyi)ical, a little rougher, per- 

 haps, than my Californian specimens. Being 

 fresh, and one " set " incomplete, the rich green- 

 blue was, and still is, delightful to the eye. 



To this day I cannot account for my folly 

 in taking the incomplete set. Perhaps I was 

 disarmed of forethought by the tameness of 

 the birds, and yet forgot that in the taking of 

 the eggs I was removing what had been the 

 very incentive to that tameness. Suffice it to 

 say that when I visited the spot a few days 

 later with especially murderous intent I saw, 

 as I neared the heronry, five Ibises, fitfully 

 wandering, apparently unknowing of my pres- 



