28 
BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
had him going again. This time he was evidently startled, for his 
time was double quick, and in less than a minute I had completely 
lost track of him, and though I shook all the trees in the vicinity I 
failed to find him again. I learned something about Green Herons 
that day that I never dreamed of before, and, I am bound to confess, 
I have held them in higher regard ever since. The spring plumage of 
this heron is truly beautiful, not to be compared with the young of 
autumn. They feed principally on small fish, crustaceans and in- 
sects, larval and adult. 
Nycticorax nycticorax neevius. Black-cuowned Night 
HeKOX. 202. 
Ouawks as they are popularly called, or to use the local name, 
Buttermunks, are abundant summer residents from May until October. 
I have seen them come on the 2d of May, flying high, and arriving at 
Great Bay in the morning at about sunrise. They are here in consid- 
erable numbers at the beginning of October, but I cannot state the 
exact time of their departure. For several years they nested in quite 
large numbers at different localities near Great Bay. One of their 
deserted communities may be seen in the pines on the Newington 
shore directly opposite Adams's point, Durham. These pines are 
from forty to seventy feet high and the nests are among the lower 
branches, in full view of the ground. It is not usual to see more than 
one nest in a tree. This heronry was occupied in 1897. Another one, 
inhabited in 1898, is in Newmarket on the west shore of the bay near 
the draw-bridge. This is in a mixed growth of small oaks and 
pines. The nests are in the pines and do not average more 
than twenty feet from the ground. The herons are said to have 
been driven from this last heronry by French mill operatives 
from the cotton-mills at Newmarket, who made it a practice to 
spend their Sundays in prowling about the woods and shooting 
the herons for fun. Whether there is still a breeding place about 
the bay generally resorted to by these herons, I cannot say. 
Night herons, as their name implies, are nocturnal birds, not much 
seen on the shore during the heat of the day except when the young 
are first on the wing and demand a good deal of attention from their 
parents. Whoever would find them feeding must take early morning 
or twilight for his time. It is not difficult to find them, however, 
if he will take the trouble to visit pine woods, adjacent to the 
shore, where they roost during the day. There is a decided differ- 
ence in coloration between young and adult, which confuses one 
