The Great Blue Herons 



Taken 



Bohlman and W. L. Finley 



A TREETOP COLONY 



scrawny, ill-favored lit- 

 tle brutes that they are, 

 spend most of their time 

 squabbling and trying to 

 push each other out of 

 the nest. There is with 

 most herons a consider- 

 able disparity of ages, 

 and consequently of 

 sizes, in the brood. The 

 runt gets trampled or 

 smothered in the early 

 days, and one or more 

 decaying carcasses of 

 younger sons are a fa- 

 miliar enough compo- 

 nent in the lining of a 

 heron's nest. Now and 

 then one of a conten- 

 tious brood succeeds in toppling a brother off the platform and down the 

 long abyss; but oftenest the pursued one escapes along the branch; or, 

 if he falls, catches on a limb below, and scrambles back to safety, "tooth" 

 and toe-nail. If he does fall to the ground, it is all day with him, for no 

 matter what the state of his skin upon arrival, the parent birds never 

 trouble to look him up. 



But however scattered the young may be between whiles, the ap- 

 proach of the parent bird is a signal for all to gather. Upon alighting, 

 the old bird first indulges a pensive moment, like a cow which is expecting 

 another order of grass sent up from the proventriculum, after which she 

 suddenly jabs her bill down the neck of the nearest squawker and dis- 

 penses sweet nourishment from her secret store. This she does with each 

 child in turn till all are fed. 



Fishing is necessarily a precarious business, involving long hours 

 and more or less night work. The chicks suffer somewhat from exposure, 

 no doubt, and the burning sun takes toll of the weaklings. Left alone, 

 the babes console themselves with a low, lonesome cluck; but whenever 

 the old birds are about, the older squabs keep up a loud cackling, 

 not unlike that of Guinea hens, less shrill, perhaps, but of immensely 

 greater volume. The parents, too, make an astonishing amount of noise, 

 roaring at times like caged lions. This bellowing of the heron, as rendered 

 at home, or as produced when frightened at close quarters is, without 



1894 



