nests, but the older families were composed 
of but twoor three young. Several sets 
were secured, and fresh eggs were taken 
from a few nests. When one of the more 
advanced juveniles, in seeking to avoid the 
intruder strayed into a strange nest he was 
immediately attacked by the occupants, and 
a fierce conflict was waged, during which 
we stood, entirely disregarded, within six 
feet of the combatants. Several dead birds 
observed were probably victims of similar 
brawls in Crane Town. 
The young Herons seemed very weak on 
their legs even when well grown, and when 
one venturing too near the edge, would 
tumble into the creek it was impossible for 
THE NIDOLOGIST 101 
him to climb up again. We assisted with 
an oar some of these fledglings in distress. 
The only kind of food observed in the colony 
was in one nest where we found a section 
of a large fish, probably a sturgeon. It 
was a full foot in length, and about four 
inches wide, being that part extending from 
the heel of the tail fin to the dorsal fin. 
Imagine the hungry occupants of this 
strange colony, standing upright with out- 
stretched wings and open,clamorous throats, 
all facing and striking their long bills toward 
the intruder, and you have an ‘animated 
picture which once seen is not to be forgot- 
ten. EDWARD K. TAytLor. 
Alameda, Cal. 
Where the Herony Was Found 
An Interview with Dr. Sharpe. 
“BLACK AND WHITE”’ publishes an in- 
teresting interview with Dr. R. Bowdler 
Sharpe, in the course of which he said: 
‘““What Iam most proud of, absolutely, 
is what I consider my most important work, 
my share in ‘‘The Catalogue of Birds in 
the British Museum,’’ which I started, of 
which I have written thirteen out of the 
twenty-seven volumes. It is no mere cata- 
logue, but really a description of every bird 
in the world, with the whole of the litera- 
ture on the subject, and a list of the speci- 
mens in the National Collection. You will 
get some idea of the vastness of the work 
when I tell you that the specimens of bird- 
skins alone number three hundred thou- 
sand. If you allow Leyden of Paris to have 
eighty thousand specimens, then you may 
say the British Museum has two hundred 
aud twenty thousand more than any other. 
The mere work of arranging and catalogu- 
ing over a quarter of a million of birds is 
enormous,’’ 
