THE OOLOGIST. 



41 



Among The Great Blue Herons. 



.(ardea herodias.) 



As per agreement I went down to 

 Salem, N. J., on the 13th of May, 

 1899, to visit a Heron colony. A 

 friend met me in the city, and after 

 enjoying the many points of interest 

 and being refreshed by a "soda and 

 cream" we drove six miles in the 

 country for the night. 



After partaking of an early breakfast 

 next morning my friend and I drove 

 over to a neighbor's and another friend 

 joined us. A drive of fifteen miles 

 brought us to a roadway leading into a 

 woods, and after proceeding a mile 

 farther we fastened our horse near the 

 edge of a swamp. 



A tramp of one quarter of a mile 

 through bushes, briars and trickey 

 sloughs brought us to the colony. My 

 friend, Mr. Crispen, who was my host 

 on this trip, had been there two weeks 

 previously and secured about fifty 

 eggs, but owing to a great many being 

 heavily incubated he could only save 

 thirty. It was anticipated that we 

 would be in good time for the second 

 laying, and the first set of three taken, 

 which were fresh, was encouraging. 



The trees were all within a stone's 

 throw of each other and it was only a 

 few minutes before a set of four fresh 

 eggs were on the ground. Mr. Crispen, 

 who did the climbing, went up and 

 down the trees like a monkey. He took 

 the eggs faster than I could blow them. 

 We found sets of three, four and five 

 about evenly divided, and after going 

 up fifteen trees had sixty eggs. There 

 were more nests, but we did not want 

 to be classed as "egg hogs" so left the 

 balance to breed. 



Two sets of Flickers of seven eggs 

 each found their way into our collect- 

 ing boxes. The eggs of the Great Blue 

 Heron are plain, greenish-blue, vary- 

 ing from elliptical to oval in shape, 

 three to six, (rarely the later) in num- 

 ber. Average sixe 2.50x1.50. 



The nests were built on the tip tops 

 of pine trees, from forty to sixty feet 

 f torn the ground. They were made of 

 coarse sticks on the first layer, finer on 

 the second and lined with a few pine 

 needles. 



As a climber Mr. Crispen beats any- 

 thing I ever saw. He went up seventy- 

 five feet to an Ospreys nest on our way 

 to the Heron colony, and finding it 

 empty, jumped into it, and while his 

 legs hung over the side, sang three 

 cheers for the red, white and blue. 

 When he climbed the first Heron tree 

 he put the eggs in his coat pocket, got 

 into the nest and stood erect, while the 

 breeze swayed the tree back and forth, 

 making a survey of the surrounding 

 country. 



The day was an ideal one for such a 

 trip, the air being cool and pleasant, 

 while the sun shone out sufficiently to 

 soften the breeze that constantly blew 

 from the Jersey shore. 



Birds could be seen on every side, 

 while we drove leisurely along each 

 bird as it came in view was called by 

 name and its nesting habits discussed. 



It was nearly dark when we reached 

 home, so, after a hearty supper, we 

 finished blowing the eggs and went to 

 bed tired out. 



Next morning Mr. Crispen drove into 

 Salem where I took the steamer for 

 Wilmington. 



E. J. Darlington. 



QUESTION COLUMN. 



G. M. S., Mankato, Minn. 

 No. 1. After selling three eggs from 

 your six Hawks' eggs you could not 

 call the three left a set. 



Nesting of Cooper's Hawk. 



(333 Accipiter cooperi. ) 



April 6, 1902, I found a nest of 

 Cooper's Hawk built in a yellow birch 

 tree 30 feet up, and nearly completed. 



