Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
July 11
(No 2)
set of 4 eggs on Saddleback Ledge, July 9th 1896. The knowledge of
this "haul" gave us all (but especially Conary) considerable
chagrin for the Ledge is in plain sight of our house & we
passed near it on the 8th without thinking it worth while
to land there. How these eggs could have escaped the numerous
fishermen who visit & "haul" their lobster pots close about the
Ledge daily is a mystery. I bought the eggs unblown & found
that the set of five were incubated 4 or 5 days. The other
four eggs were quite fresh.
  Just as we had reached the shore on our way back to
the boat we heard a shout & presently young Knight (he
is only seventeen) appeared running & waving his hat. I
had a short talk with him & learned that early last
May he found a Raven's nest (on one of the islands
"down the Bay") containing young nearly ready to fly.
He thinks the eggs must have been laid late in March or early
in April. He has also found this year somewhere among
the northern Fox Islands a large heronry of Night Herons
- about two hundred nests, [delete]in[/delete] all containing young.
Had had two fine sets of 4 eggs each of the Marsh Hawk,
both taken on Deer Island this year from the same pair
of birds.
  He had also two sets (which I bought) of 5 eggs each of the
Great Blue Heron taken May 16th on Pickering's Island, one of
the more northerly of the Fox Islands group.