The Schuylkill Heronries 



199 



This colony doubtless united with the Red Hill colony, and the ground 

 remained vacant until 191 5 when I counted fifty-six nests, some yet with young, 

 on August 18. My visits in 1916 were made on April 16, May 14, and 28, and 

 July 3, one hundred and twenty-seven inhabited nests were found from 40 to 70 

 feet up in ash, oak, and cherry trees, and I am pleased to state that the birds 

 had a very prosperous year. They were quite tame, and the only annoyance 

 came from two pairs of Crows nesting in their midst. That they were living 

 off of the Herons was amply proven by the twenty empty nests, the reduced 

 average in a brood and the discovery of four young with their eyes pecked out. 

 Another season I hope to destroy all the Crows' nests in the wood. However, 

 there is no warden, and this fine colony, perhaps the last of its kind in all this 

 region, is at the mercy of the first vicious person that may chance upon it, 

 when it will become only a memory. 



I would add a word of caution to bird-lovers when visiting heronries: Do 

 not enter a colony until the leaves have formed a screen; enter at a point that 

 will enable the birds to retire undisturbed to an unoccupied part of the wood; 

 keep together, walk slowly, keep quiet, and do not stay long. Remember that 

 the Crows are looking for a disturbance that will enable them to steal the eggs 

 and young, and knowledge of the locality should be intrusted to the chosen 

 few. 



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\V()(J1) FEWKK, NEST AND YOUNG 

 Photographed by A. A. Allen, Ithaca, N. Y. 



