134 MOTES ON THE HERONS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA. 
herons. In this heronry, besides Anhingas, were found only 
White Egrets and Ward’s Herons—the latter often mistaken 
for the Great Blue Heron. It is usually the case that large 
herons are found nesting separate from the smaller species, 
Only on one or two occasions have I found Ward’s Heron 
nesting with the smaller ones. The beautiful little Yellow- 
crowned Night Heron sometimes nests in isolated pairs, but 
usually in small communities, and never in company with 
other species. 
I visited a large colony of herons on Horse Hummock 
on April 27th, 1888. Several hundred pairs were nesting 
there at the time. Most of them were Little Blue and 
Snowy Herons, with some White Egrets, Louisiana Herons, 
and Black-crowned Night Herons. When quite close tothe 
breeding-grounds I climbed a tall gum tree, and being 
partially screened by the thick foliage was able, unobserved 
by the birds, to survey the scene at leisure. The frail nests 
of twigs were placed in buttonwood bushes and willow trees, 
in and around a little pond in the hummock. There were 
but few young; most of the nests contained three to five 
blue eggs. 
Three years later I again visited the heronry at Horse Hum- 
mock, found the old gum, and climbed among its branches. 
But the scene had changed. Not a heron was visible, I 
discharged my revolver, but the answering echoes and the 
tapping of a woodpecker was the only response. The call 
had come from Northern cities for greater quantities of 
heron plumes for millinery. The plume-hunter had dis- 
covered the colony, and a few shattered nests were all that 
was left to tell of the once populous colony. The few sur- 
viving tenants, if there were any, had fled in terror to the 
recesses of wilder swamps. Wearily I descended from the 
tree to find among the leaves and mold the crumbling bones 
of slaughtered birds. 
A few miles north of Waldo, in the flat pine region, our 
party came one day upon a little swamp, where we had been 
