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80 PROCHE^DINGS MANCHESTER INSTITUTE 



are not breeding birds, but formerly there were rookeries known 

 in a number of places in the state. Thus Mr. C. F. Goodhue 

 ('77, p. 146) records the bird as having bred at Webster prior 

 to 1877, and Samuels ('67, p. 402) tells of a heronry in a hem- 

 lock swamp at Errol, on a small branch of the Androscoggin, 

 where nests with partly grown young were found about June 

 25th. Still more recently Mr. Edward A. Preble writes me of a 

 small colony which bred 15 years ago at a spot among the Ossi- 

 pee Hills, two miles northwest of Dan Hole Pond. " Upwards 

 of 100 nests were occupied within an area of about an acre. 

 These were placed mostly in large beeches, one of which held 6 

 or 8 nests." The birds fished at Dan Hole Pond, where they 

 obtained pickerel. A gang of sawmill hands broke up the col- 

 ony in 1888. Mr. Ned Dearborn ('98, p. 9) adduces a recent 

 instance from Belknap and Merrimack Cos., where a pair nest- 

 ed "in an old growth of pine situated in a large swamp. The 

 young ones were supplied with food from a pond nearl^^ two 

 miles away." My friend, Mr. H. C. Sargent, also writes me 

 that on May 26, 1901, he discovered a small rookery about a 

 mile and a half east of Chocorua, on a slope near two ponds. 

 The young birds were apparently hatched, and about a dozen 

 nests were observed. In the White mountains a few of these 

 birds usuall}^ appear in the Saco valle}-, singl}^ or rareh- in 

 pairs, about the first of August, and often the same birds seem 

 to stay about in one locality for a number of days, feeding along 

 the brooks and ponds. Doubtless there are secluded spots 

 where they yet breed among the White mountains, and after the 

 young are off they seek the vallej^s for a season, where food is 

 easily accessible. Individuals are apt to be seen in suitable lo- 

 calities throughout the state during all the summer months. 

 Occasionally one or two birds seem to linger late in the season 

 as long as there is food and open water to be found. Thus Mr. 

 H. C. Sargent writes me of a bird which was shot by a resident 

 near Chocorua on December 21, 1900. The man found the bird 

 in his yard, standing in eighteen inches of snow, when he first 

 went out in the morning. Mr. V. D. lyowe observed one at 

 Randolph on December 31, 1901. 



Dates : April 5 to Noyembc-r 6 (December 31). 



