76 
NIGHT HERON. 
eighty to one hundred pairs of Qua-birds. In places where the 
cedars have been cut down for sale, the birds have merely re- 
moved to another quarter of the swamp; but when personally 
attacked, long teased and plundered, they have been known to 
remove from an ancient breeding place, in a body, no one knew 
where. Such was the case with one on the Delaware, near 
Thompson’s point, ten or twelve miles below Philadelphia; 
which having been repeatedly attacked and plundered by a bo- 
dy of Crows, after many severe rencounters the Herons finally 
abandoned the place. Several of these breeding places occur 
among the red-cedars on the seabeach of Cape May, intermix- 
ed with those of the Little White Heron, Green Bittern, and 
Blue Heron. The nests are built entirely of sticks, in conside- 
rable quantites, with frequently three and four nests on the same 
tree. The eggs are generally four in number, measuring two 
inches and a quarter in length, by one and three quarters in 
thickness, and of a very pale light blue colour. The ground, 
or marsh, below is bespattered with their excrements, lying all 
around like whitewash, with feathers, broken egg-shells, old 
nests, and frequently small fish, which they have dropt by ac- 
cident and neglected to pick up. 
On entering the swamp, in the neighbourhood of one of these 
breeding places, the noise of the old and the young would almost 
induce one to suppose that two or three hundred Indians were 
choking or throttling each other. The instant an intruder is 
discovered, the whole rise in the air in silence, and remove to 
the tops of the trees in another part of the woods; while parties 
of from eight to ten make occasional circuits over the spot, to 
see what is going on. When the young are able, they climb to 
the highest part of the trees; but, knowing their inability, do 
not attempt to fly. Though it is probable that these nocturnal 
birds do not see well during the day, yet their faculty of hear- 
ing must be exquisite, as it is almost impossible, with all the 
precautions one can use, to penetrate near their residence, with- 
out being discovered. Several species of Hawks hover around, 
making an occasional sweep among the young; and the Bald 
