jBtotes^ from Jfielti anD ^tuDp 



Does the Green Heron Fish in Deep 

 Water ? 



That the Green Heron is an habitual 

 wader is well known to all who are familiar 

 with it, but that it will go into water be- 

 yond its depth is a fact I have not seen re- 

 corded. One day in September, 1898, I 

 observed an individual of this species stand- 

 ing on the edge of a plank projecting some 

 six inches out of water. Seeing that he was 

 on the lookout for prey, I watched him 

 closely, wondering why he had chosen so 

 inconvenient a place from which to fish, 

 when presently, as if to show that he un- 

 derstood perfectly well what he was about, 

 he suddenly and without the least hesita- 

 tion, plunged into the water after a fish 

 that had come to the surface some three or 

 four feet away. Although he missed his 

 aim, the effort was well meant and, to judge 

 by appearances, not the first of the kind. 

 Turning about in the water, he rose from it 

 with little difficulty and with a few flaps 

 was back on the plank, where, shaking out 

 his plumage, he proceeded to plume him- 

 self carefully. Before he had completed 

 this operation he was unfortunately fright- 

 ened off by the approach of some boys. 



The scene of the above incident was a 

 deserted iron pit, which, lying in a low 

 place, has for several years been more or 

 less deeply flooded, according to season and 

 rains. Having become well stocked with 

 small fish and frogs, and offering the addi- 

 tional attractions of mud flats, shallows and 

 considerable seclusion, this old iron pit, 

 somewhat over an acre in extent, has been 

 a favored feeding ground for both Green 

 Herons and their larger relatives. Night 

 Herons. To further describe, the plank 

 spoken of above was a remaining part of 

 the old shaft. This, at the time in ques- 

 tion, was well out in the pool and sur- 

 rounded on all sides by water ranging from 

 three to six feet deep. 



With these facts before us, two points 

 are clear. First, there was nothing to pre- 



(14 



vent, but on the contrary everything to urge 

 this Heron to feed in the usual way; second, 

 in plunging into the pool where he did he 

 entered water so much beyond his depth 

 that he could not possibly have touched bot- 

 tom In a way to assist him in getting out. 



That this one instance of an individual 

 Green Heron plunging into deep water 

 after food proves such to be a natural habit 

 of the species can hardly be said. I would 

 add, however, that further study of the feed- 

 ing habits of the Green Heron, with a view 

 to settling this question, convinces me that 

 a quite usual method of fishing is for it to 

 watch from a stand a few inches above the 

 water and from there to jump quickly down 

 upon Its prey. — Samuel H. Barker, JVyn- 

 cote, Pa. 



Notes on the Ruby -throated Humming- 

 bird 



We have had Ruby-throated Humming- 

 birds for many years regularly in our gar- 

 den, but did not find any nest till 1898. 

 We were then greatly gratified by finding 

 a nest on an apple tree. The old birds 

 were very tame when they had young ; 

 a photograph was taken of the female 

 feeding only a yard from the camera. 

 Next year we were surprised that they had 

 built their nest on a low branch of a pear 

 tree, that one could reach. The nest was 

 seen as soon as commenced; only the foun- 

 dation was laid on a thin outer branch, 

 which was added to every morning till 

 completed. 



There was no appearance of hurry, for 

 it took two weeks to finish the nest. The 

 building went on so slowly that I some- 

 times thought it would be abandoned. I 

 saw only the female take any part in the 

 work. The motion of the bird while 

 shaping the nest was comical, bouncing 

 down and turning around quickly. What 

 was wanting in weight was made up in 

 energy. The nest was built with vegetable 

 wool, I think the woolly part of the seed- 



