AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 35 



eral pairs of these birds during the greater part of an entire nesting 

 season and had become much perplexed upon finding myself unable to 

 locate the nesting site. But finally I saw the female bird fly to the 

 top of a high pine with a worm in her beak, and a moment later drop 

 from that height like a stone to the ground. Upon examination I 

 found a small hole in the almost level ground and after excavating 

 near fifteen inches disclosed a typical nest of the Chickadee family 

 containing seven well fledged young. Since that day I have found 

 many nests of this bird in like locations and in one or two instances in 

 the cavity of trees. One or more very peculiar nesting sites which 

 have come under my observation might be worth mentioning. The 

 fields and hillsides in this section are terraced for the growing of rice. 

 These terraces are generally from one to three feet high containing 

 several inches of water. I once found the home of a Chickadee in one 

 of these terraces though it hardly seemed that there could be a dry 

 spot between these two surfaces of water. This bird had found a very 

 small hole in the dyke but a few inches above water line, and in this 

 home had a family of six little ones. 



During the spring months there are indeed a great variety of birds 

 to be found throughout this section, but as the nesting season draws 

 near they gradually disappear until the month of May finds compara- 

 tively few species who make this their summer home. Of these there 

 is no family better represented than the heron. There are a number 

 of species of the heron which are marked only by a difference of color- 

 ation. Some are snow white, others white with buff colored head and 

 back, others white with very deep brown head and neck and others 

 almost black. These birds live and nest in great colonies in the mas- 

 sive banyan trees overhanging some temple court or the narrow busy 

 street. There are three or four large trees in the heart of this city 

 (Ku-cheng) which have hundreds of nests of these birds. It seems as 

 though every available place has a slight platform of sticks through 

 which can easily be seen the pale green eggs or incubating bird. Dur- 

 ing the breeding season these birds may be seen by hundreds grace- 

 fully flying to and from the nearby rice fields where they feed. 



It is estimated that one of these large banyan trees would produce 

 from five hundred to one thousand eggs of this specie, but still we 

 find it difficult to secure sets of the eggs. Such trees as these massive 

 banyans are held sacred and often worshipped. Each tree is supposed 

 to represent one or more gods. Though the Chinaman is willing to do 

 many things in order to earn his rice, it is almost impossible to find a 

 person who would dare climb one of these trees to collect a few sets 

 of heron eggs even though he be offered a bowl of rice for every egg. 



