THE SCIENTIST. 
73 
conary motives, but from mere waii- 
toncss* Yet, notwithstanding this and 
the fact that every sportsman shoofs them 
when an oppertunity offers, the bird is so 
keen ol' vision, and so sly, that many sur- 
vive to propa<r5ite their species an en- 
liven and animate the dark recesses and 
swamps which they frequent. 
There is a popuhir belief that when the 
Great Bhie flies up stream; look out for 
rain, or, if it flies down stream, dry 
weather is indicated. These omens may 
not be absolutely true, yet, in the ab- 
stract, like many popuhir beliefs and 
signs, have a foundation in fact. I have 
many times, myself, noticed, that when 
a storm was brewino- the "Blue Crane" 
would leave the vicinity of the streams 
and fly, not up or down the water course, 
but across the country. 
Many "old timers"' believed that the 
herons possessed but one short intestine, 
which extended straight through the 
body, and there is now residing in the 
village of B — . an old gentleman, who 
served in the Mexican war, that stoutly 
declares that he has seen the "Blue 
Crane" repeatedly catch and swallow an 
eel, it passing through the body as often 
as swallowed; but when it is known that 
this pseudo-ornithologist also believes 
that the Swallows and Swifts hibernate 
in the mud, at the bottom of the rivers 
during the winter season, and that the 
Juncos turn into Sparrows in the sum- 
mer,, and back to Juncos when winter ap- 
proaches, no one will doubt but that he 
has seen such things. 
Six miles below Bei-nadotte, on Spoon 
lliver, there is now the remnent of a once 
grand forest of trees. The river making 
* While visiting a "Crane Town" in north- 
ern Indiana tor e^rgs, sevcL-al j^ears since, we 
saw three piles of dead Great Blue Herons. 
One Of the piles, on countinir, showed nine- 
teen adult birds, about equally divided as 
to sex, and one Wliite Heron. The other 
piles we did not approach but presume they 
contained lully as many birds as the one 
examined. Tliese birds were probably 
slaughtered by some of the many dude hunt- 
ers (?), who, hailing from Chicago, flood this 
neighborhood evei-y spring. Ed. 
a great bend encloses it on tbrcc sides, 
while the fourth side, on the south, over- 
looks it with high bluffs. Near the heait 
of this forest, towering far above all the 
other trees, are a half dozen giant Syca- 
mores, relics of a primeval forest, sur- 
vivors of time and storm, their majestic 
heads reared almost to the clouds, and 
sturdy white arms flung to sun and 
breeze. Here for so long a time as the 
memory of the oldest inhabitant the 
Great Blue Heron>? have built their nests 
and reared their j'^oung. For many years 
they were not molested. The farmers 
and hunters of the vicinity seemed to 
feel a pride in "Crane Town," as they 
called it, and pointed it out to visitors as 
one of the curiosities of the neighbor- 
hood. And so, year after year, fifteen 
or twenty pairs of these great birds re- 
turned to the Sycamores to breed. 
But a change was to come over the 
scene. Lewistown, the county seat, was 
but five miles away. With advancing 
years it evoluted from a mere village to 
the size and pretensions of a city. Legi- 
timate game became scarce, and the 
problem of what to shoot troubled the 
city sportsmen. Crane Town was thought 
of, as a place likely to furnish an exhi- 
bition for their skill in high and lofty 
shooting. So, when the nests wei-e full 
of half fledged young, it was visited by 
a party of gunners and sad hovoc 
wrought, nearly or quite all the young, 
and some of the old Herons were ruth- 
lessly slaughtered. For two or three 
years a diminished number returned to 
nest in the old home, but the pot-hunter 
was ready for them and they soon gave 
it up. Last year, 1890, I knew of but 
two nests of this bird between Bernadotte 
and Havana, a distance, by water, of 
over thirty miles. Perhaps the time is 
not far in the future when we will have 
seen the last of this picturesque bird. 
Last month was the wettest April that 
Kansas has experienced in twenty-four 
years. The chickens are mostly ducks in 
that state this season. — Sta7\ 
