species. ‘‘The immediate vicinity of Pan- 
ama is not suitable for good collecting, but 
ifone gets a little way into the interior 
birds are numerous enough both in species 
and individuals. Among the large birds, 
by far the most numerous were the Black 
Vultures or Carrion Crows. They area 
familiar feature of all southern towns and 
are ever on the watch fora choice bit of 
refuse meat. During a shower they made 
no effort to find shelter but sat humped up 
on the tile roofs until the rain ceased. As 
the sun came out they spread their wings 
to dry, making a good imitation of some of 
the Heron and Gull fire screens which are 
so common. 
‘“A few of our Turkey Vultures were 
sometimes seen. ‘The nativessay this kind 
come from Jamaica during the winter but 
go away during the summer. Probably 
the next bird in respect of numbers is the 
Frigate Pelican. I first saw them at 
Mazatlan, Sinoloa, but of course they range 
much farther north as the observations of 
Mr. Bryant show. At Panama they are 
abundant anywhere along the water front. 
They are exceedingly graceful in flight, for 
which their wings are well fitted and as 
they slowly open and shut their long, 
forked tails one is reminded of a pair of 
shears. Mr. Bryant (Nid. I. p.1.) has 
already spoken of their Mexican name 
meaning scissors. In spite of the weak 
feet, the Man-o’-War Bird is able to perch 
upon a tree in a very respectable manner, 
as all of our party can testify. Among the 
birds observed belonging to our fauna and 
which are more or less familiar to collectors 
in the United States were the following: 
California Brown Pelican, Spotted Sand- 
piper, Green Heron, Sparrow Hawk, 
Groove-billed Ani, Rieffer’s Humming- 
bird, Dickcissel, Yellow-throated Vireo, 
Water-Thrush and Prothonotary Warbler.’’ 
The Northern Division meets October 
3 at Oakland. 
+o 
LEVERET? M. Loomts of the California Academy 
of Sciences found a new Petrel on the Fara/lones 
this year. He has not yet determined if it is 
separable from Leach’s. Six eggs were found, 
which are said to be larger than the Ashy Petrel’s. 
Mr. Loomis will leave shortly for another visit to 
Monterey to work on the migration of Sea-birds, 
= aS 
Enclosed find $1.00, for which continue my sub- 
scription. Although you are not as easily reached 
by us Eastern bird lovers as before I shall keep on 
taking the ‘‘Nip’’ even if vou should move to 
Australia. WARREN H. SMITH. 
Fairmount, Ohio, 
THE NIDOLOOIST 
A New England Heronry. 
VISITED a Night Heronry on May 12, 
| and thinking that my experience might 
be of some interest to your readers I 
send you this brief account. 
I met my collector friend at the Union 
Station in Boston and we took the noon 
train for a station in Essex county. After 
leaving the train a halfhour’s walk brought 
us to the top of a large hill, at the foot of 
which was a swamp composed of fir, white 
spruce and maple trees. This swamp 
although not large in extent, contained 300 
or more Heron’s nests. ‘This Heronry is 
not regularly harried and the few eggs 
taken will not in the least injure its useful- 
ness as a colony. 
The swamp was inaccessible from many 
points but we finally made an entrance by 
jumping from hammock to bush, but the 
ground was easily shaken at each step. 
No nests were encountered till we had pro- 
gressed for fifteen or twenty rods, then the 
familiar ‘‘quaw’’ reminded us that we were 
in a busy community. We started examin- 
ing those bunches of sticks that appeared in 
almost every tree, and out of sixty-two 
only one of them was without eggs. 
In some trees there were two nests, one 
about two feet above the other. The 
majority contained four and five eggs, but 
two nests held six eggs each. The nests 
were in slim, white spruce or fir trees, and 
were from fifteen to twenty-five feet high, 
although there were a few in tall maples. 
After climbing several trees my friend 
Will said, ‘‘this is too much shinning,’’ 
and he began to make trips from the top of 
one tree to another, until he had visited 
four trees before he returned to the ground, 
and he accomplished this feat several 
times. 
We only examined nests within a 
radius of 150 square feet, but afterwards 
walked over a halt acre or more where the 
nests seemed to be abundant. 
J. R. MANN. 
Arlington Heights, Mass. 
