A Trip to a Heronry. 
June 7, I visited, in company with- a 
friend, a tract of land inhabited by Night 
Heron s, in the southern part of Rhode 
Island. Even at that comparatively early 
date, most of the nests contained young 
birds, and those too, nearly full grown. 
As our visit was limited to the short space 
of an hour, we were content to obtain a 
few eggs and birds, and not to explore the 
whole place, which probably covered sev¬ 
eral acres of land. The entrance to the 
swamp was a narrow cow-path, on each 
side of which the briars were so closely in¬ 
terwoven that one was hardly able to pene¬ 
trate. 
As we came towards the heronry, nu¬ 
merous cries of “quack,” “quack,” were 
•heard, and the birds immediately left the 
nests and hovered over the place. On 
glancing at the trees within, we could see 
numerous nests, with young birds stretch¬ 
ing their long necks over the sides. The 
trees mostly chosen were maples, and every 
tree contained from six to twelve nests. 
At the foot of the trees, egg shells, dead 
fish, and here and there dead birds were 
to be seen. The lower parts of the tree 
and the ground below, were covered with 
the incessant droppings, and the whole 
place seemed to have been whitewashed. 
I first climbed one of the trees and soon 
was down with several sets of four eggs. 
We found this to be the usual number; of 
ten there were but three. A look at us two 
creatures on coming down from the trees 
would have made the most sober person 
laugh. I appeared to have been painted 
white from head to foot, while my com¬ 
panion was as bad. However, as we were 
“ rigged out” for the occasion, we soon 
were used to the sight and smell. We ob¬ 
tained one beautiful specimen of a male 
Heron, and admired the neat plumage of 
this otherwise disgusting bird. 
To give some idea as to the number of 
the nests and eggs, I would say that I 
could frequently reach from one tree to 
another and take two or three sets of eggs. 
The young Herons were exceedingly vicious, 
and upon our appearing at the nests, they 
would dart their huge bills towards our 
faces and make queer noises. 
Several Snowy Herons were seen but 
we could get no shot at them. Arriving 
home, on counting the eggs, my share came 
to just eighty, thirteen of which were sets 
of four, the rest sets of three and single 
eggs. A correct estimate of the number of 
the nests in the place could not be made, 
but it certainly went into the thousands.— 
H. A. Talbot, Providence , li. I 
O.&O. I X,Jt ri y . 1 . 8 84.p .ft g-Vf- 
Night Heron’s Nest. 
BY J. M. W., NOKWICII, CONN. 
May 17tli, I made my annual visit to the 
heronry at the east end ot Fisher’s Island, and 
two small fish baskets full of sets were taken, 
J which was a small per cent of the eggs noted 
!' and will not cripple the usefulness of the col- 
I ony. This heronry is not regularly harried 
J and some seasons gets off scot free. 
I Fisher’s Island is in Suffolk County, N. Y., is 
not commonly accessible from Greenport, and 
is an hour and a half's sail from the Connecti¬ 
cut shore. Formerly large, its population has 
fluctuated greatly of late years. In 1877 I 
found it reduced to fifteen pairs, but persecu¬ 
tion ceasing for a few years, it rapidly increased 
and in 1882 it was at its maximum. The enor¬ 
mous nests then fringed even the low bushes 
on the outside of the circular swamp, and on 
being suddenly disturbed the birds rose like a 
great cloud. That year it was impossible to 
tell the number of birds, but this season, on 
coming out from the swamp I counted one 
hundred and fifty individuals perching on the 
tree tops and with those (lying and covering 
eggs, and by a close computation of the nests, 
the colony is not less than six hundred to-day. 
Entering the swamp, no nests are now found 
till one penetrates three rods from the outside, 
| none at present can be reached from the ground 
i but they are all in the tops of swamp maples 
j and a few red cedars at an average height of 
sixteen feet. No empty nests were seen, May 
17th, and no foot-prints or abrasions on trees, 
so this was the first visit this year. Though 
single eggs and pairs were found, yet there 
were many young at this early date. It was 
! easy to tell the nests which held squabs by the 
j broken egg shells below, and not difficult to 
| pick out fresh sets by the spare lining of the 
tree trunks, and by the small quantity of ordure 
beneath the nests. Four was the average set, ’ 
but five were not scarce, the proportion of large 
sets being about one in nine. No clutch of six 
was seen, no suspicion of markings, and owing 
to the long dry spell, the eggs were free from 
nest-washings. Incubation ran evenly through - 
their Exodus. By Samuel Lockwood. 
p. 23 - 35 , J an - i 878 .— An interesting pop- 
j“ Nyctiardea gardeni Baird.” 'tt .ist 
s. Black-crowned Night Heron._ 
ake during the last days of May. There M 
ies in the canons of the upper Verde and MearnB * ^ 
t resident in the Verde Valley. Aulc.Vll. Jan. 1890.p.4'/ 
• V^ UL ou. coia., iNo. 2, pm 9, 10. 
cent. iiEUlUi Notes Nate Mia, 
13 ^ CUrtlS. IVltl*) JUIJ' j— 
Nyctiardea gardeni.' YPi'" ■ -.'Xl YAXI 
•• By Henry Hales. Ibid., VI, p. 6 .— 
by the writer at Ridgewood, N. J. 
’ on the Marsh'. By DeJos Hatch. Ibid., 
1 rushes of a marsh in Wisconsin. ©, Ss Q.. VqjQVTII, 
July 1887.] 
AND Q( 
the advanced sets and the great majority of the 
nests with young examined held four. Fresh 
sets were told by a slight roughness, apparent | 
by lightly running the finger tips over the sur¬ 
face. The series was of marked uniformity in 
size and shape and quite uniform in color. No 
egg had an excess of pigment nordid any clutch 
approach the white type. Nests holding lusty 
young, which were probably built in cold April 
weather, were large, substantial and well-hol¬ 
lowed structures; while those just built, were I 
of the summer style of architecture, or flat 
form type &pd the eggs could be seen from j 
below. 
On first entering the swamp, I climbed iso¬ 
lated trees, but soon learning to group my I 
nests would ascend only for three or more sets. 
To show how Floridian was the quantity of 
eggs here, I will add that I came down repeat¬ 
edly with thirteen eggs in my baskets, and on 
my last ascension could look around on the | 
adjacent trees and count forty-five eggs. 
The white of a heron's egg is apt to be leath¬ 
ery when cooked, but the yolk is palatable and | 
at the proper age the young birds are good for 
the table. 
By sailors and the shore-dwellers the birds I 
are only known as “Quawks,” and the lovely [ 
Snowy Herons seen here sparingly on the mi¬ 
grations are called “White Quawks.” One I 
year, when the whole season was forward and 
the migrations early, I recorded this commu -1 
nity of waders in full breeding activity May 
6 th; the young were shortly reared, and there I 
was a fair proportion of second clutches June 
4th. As the young are out of the nests before | 
the summer excursionists swarm these shores, 
and the wanton shooter now meets with legal I 
discouragement, this heronry bids fair to keep | 
up its numbers for many years. 
XII, July 1867’ p .IIZ-II3 
12-V- 
