228 



THE OOLOGIST. 



had visited the swamp tAVO daj^s ahead 

 and taken all the available sets. It 

 was with difficulty ray friend secured a 

 set of four. 



The average size Avas 2.68 x 1.82. 

 The texture of the shells was very 

 rough and they were covered in places 

 with a calcerous deposit. 



The nests, some two hundred in all, 

 were placed on an average of forty 

 feet from the ground. The were com- 

 posed of reeds, found at the edge of the 

 swamp, and some, mostly of the year, 

 were lined with straw. The older ones, 

 besides being dirty and weather beaten, 

 showed signs of extra material having 

 been added on j-ear by year. The 

 swamp has evidently heki this heronry 

 for years as the ground is white in 

 some places so great is the accumula- 

 tion of manure. The old nests are 

 sti-ong enough to bear the weight of a 

 man, but as most members of the 

 genus homo do not have the happiest 

 of sensations when Mfty feet from terra 

 firma and swinging out far enough to 

 reach over and get into the nests, I 

 would advise that persons tunnel 

 through them to. get the eggs. The 

 view from these trees — the tallest 

 (nies — is excellent and it v\^as with re- 

 luctance we Avould put c)ur glasses 

 away when ready for coming down. 



After a good deal of tramping we 

 found our \y,iy out of the swamp aiid 

 ate our dinner at the edge. While in 

 the swamp we noticed the following 

 birds: Mourning Dove, Am. Crow and 

 nest with eggs, Flickers, Red Headed 

 Woodpeckers, B. C. Chickadee, W. B. 

 Nuthatch and Red Shouldered Hawks: 

 but they were all verj' quiet and eluded 

 our gaze as much as they could. 



About a week after visiting the 

 swamp I found that I had been severely 

 poisoned with poison sumac. Al- 

 though a certain doctor does not allude 

 ^T it in his article on the dark sides of a 

 ^.ollector's life in the O. & C). I should 

 (.all it one of them; but, he may be 

 "Yvriting from a doctor's standpoint, and 



so he is able to reply: "Sirs, ye know, 

 that by this craft^we have our wealth.'* 



On Apr. 21, 1890, in company with a. 

 friend, 1 visited the SAvamp again, but 

 the heronry looked as though it was 

 not half of its original size and the only 

 occupied nests Avere in the very tallest 

 trees. On inquiry from a farmer I 

 learned tiiat a taxidermist from an 

 adjoining town came doAvn and carried 

 away three or four bags of skins and 

 this Avith the havocs made by the 

 Crows in robbing the eggs and the. 

 fiendish collectors Avill in time break ui> 

 Avhat must once have been an immense 

 colony. Perhaps no one feels more 

 indignant at those Avho Avill help to 

 bring this about than the farmers living; 

 in the immediate vicinity to the SAvamp 

 who believe Ihe Crone, as they call 

 them, are a benefit to them. In the 

 hereafter that man avIio is caught 

 carrying aAvay eggs or skins may ex- 

 pect rough treatment at the hands of 

 these good men . 



The Great Blue Heron arrives in this 

 latitude about the middle of March, but 

 its return is variable. FolloAving is 

 Ardea herodias's modest "bill-o-fare": 

 "Crabs, eels, shell fish and various 

 fishes," (De Kay.) "In a carp pond 

 one has been knoAvn to eat one thous- 

 and stone carp in a year," .(Wilson.) 

 Prof. F. H. King found a bull head in 

 the stomach of one Avhich measured 8^ 

 inches in length. "Snakes, frogs, 

 mice, fishes and insects," (Samuels.) 

 "Fish of all kinds, frogs, lizards,, 

 snakes, birds, shrews, meadoAv mice, 

 young rats and dragon flies. It de- 

 stroys great numbers of Marsh Hens, 

 Rails and other birds," "Audubon." 

 Edward P. Caklton, 

 ^ WauAvatosa,Wis. 



The Prothonotary Warbler. 



This handsome little Warbler arrives; 

 here about the 10th of May. This year 

 (1890) I have found only tAVo pairs dur- 

 ing the season, so they are not what we 

 would call common. 



