278 NIGHT HERON. 



Qua Birds begin to retire from this part of Massachusetts, towards their 

 southern winter quarters, although a few of the young birds still linger 

 occasionally to the 29th or 30th of that month." This last observation 

 is a farther evidence of the reluctance which the young of this species feel 

 to go as far south during winter as the old birds. 



The nest of the Night Heron is large, flattish, and formed of sticks 

 placed in different directions, sometimes to the height of three or four 

 inches. At times it is arranged with so little care, that the young upset 

 it before they are able to fly. Many of the nests are annually repaired, 

 and these birds, when they have once found an agreeable settlement, re- 

 turn regularly to it, until some calamity forces them to abandon it. The 

 full number of the eggs is four, and they measure at an average two inches 

 and one-sixteenth by an inch and a half. They are thin-shelled, and of 

 a plain light sea-green colour. In about three weeks after the young are 

 hatched, most of them leave the nest, and crawl about the branches, to 

 which they cling firmly, ascending to the tops of the bushes or trees, and 

 there awaiting the return of their parents with food. If you approach 

 them at such times, the greatest consternation ensues both among the 

 young and the old birds ; the loud and incessant croaking which both 

 have until then kept up, suddenly ceases ; the parent birds rise in the air, 

 sail around and above you, some alighting on the neighbouring trees ; 

 while the young scramble off in all directions to avoid being taken. So 

 great at times is their terror, that they throw themselves into the water, 

 and swim off with considerable rapidity, until they reach the shore, when 

 they run and hide in every convenient place. Retire for half an hour, 

 and you will be sure to hear the old and the young calling to each other ; 

 the noise gradually increases, and in a short time is as loud as ever. The 

 stench emitted by the excrements with which the abandoned nests, the 

 branches and leaves of the trees and bushes, and the ground, are co- 

 vered, the dead young, the rotten and broken eggs, together with putrid 

 fish and other matters, renders a visit to these places far from pleasant. 

 Crows, Hawks and Vultures torment the birds by day, while Racoons 

 and other animals destroy them by night. The young are quite as good 

 for eating as those of the Common Pigeon, being tender, juicy, and fat, 

 with very little of the fishy taste of many birds which, like them, feed on 

 fishes and reptiles. At this period few if any of the old birds have the 

 long feathers of tlio hind head, and these are not reproduced before the 



