134 NOTES 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 to the 

 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 coiony. 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 



