BaLes—-PICKAWAY CouNTtTy, Onto. 47 
and the twenty-first. The nests are mainly placed among the 
saw grasses in shallow water and are situated from six inches 
to two and one-half feet above water; eighteen inches is the 
average height. The nests are composed of saw grass blades, 
short lengths of smartweed stalks, slender twigs from the but- 
tonwood, and about half the nests examined are lined with 
finer grasses; at the best the nests are very flimsy, frail and 
loosely put together. Occasionally a nest is found composed 
almost entirely of a tall round water grass, but nests so com- 
posed are always built in a clump of this variety of grass. 
Saw grasses are usually bent over to form a platforisi on which 
to build the nest; these grases are often bent over a small 
branch of buttonwood to give stability to the platform. An 
occasional nest is built among the diverging twigs of the but- 
tonwood bush, much in the maner of a green heron nest, but 
nesting sites of this type are rare. The full complement of 
eggs is usually four or five, although I have taken highly in- 
cubated sets of three, and have seen nests containing six 
young. Fresh eggs have been taken between June 4th and 
June 21st, although on June 18th, 1908, I found two nests con- 
taining young. The young in the first nest discovered were 
likely almost a week old and were very odd looking fellows. 
They were covered with a yellowish down except about the 
eyes, where the greenish skin was bare; the legs were yellow 
with a green tinge on the dorsal surface. Another nest dis- 
covered the same day contained six young in which the pin- 
feathers were showing. It is doubtful if this nest would have 
been discovered, had I not seen one of the young birds 
clinging to one of the round water grasses fully a foot above 
the nest. While perched upon the slender, swaying water 
grass, they have a peculiarly pert and saucy look that 
is ludicrous in the extreme. They are excellent climbers 
and use their long necks and bills in climbing by hooking the 
head over the perch and using it as a sort of hook to aid them 
in scrambling up. The feet are very strong. The young in 
