1890 Florida, 
Mar20-Aprl Suwanee River. 
Found sparingly along the entire course of the river, but no¬ 
where abundantly, until we were within eight or ten miles of the 
Gulf. Below this point the bottom was from three to six or seven 
miles in width, and intersected by innumerable narrow, winding 
creeks which extended back from the river to a distance of from 
one to three or four miles. In many places the trees, chiefly 
cypresses, green ashes and sweet gums, extended their branches out 
over the water from the opposite banks, until their tops actually 
interlocked, forming complete arches of foliage which almost wholly 
excluded the rays of the sun, and beneath which the light was dim 
and subdued even at noon-day. In such reaches, we were almost cer¬ 
tain to find the Yellow-crowned Night Herons. They never congre¬ 
gated in colonies, but it was by no means uncommon to start two or 
three pairs within the distance of as many hundred yards when the 
conditions were particularly favorable. Their nests were easily 
discovered, for 1h ey were almost invariably bviilt in conspicuous 
positions near the ends of long horizontal branches directly over 
the water. I examined several but all were empty, although a 
bird was sitting on one of themr They were formed of sticks rath¬ 
er neatly and compactly arranged, and averaged from 12 to 15 inches 
in diameter. They were deeply hollowed for Heron's nests, and neat 
ly lined with fine twigs. It was impossible to see through any of 
them from beneath. 
When found during the day-time, in the retreats just des¬ 
cribed, the Yellow-crowned Herons were usually sitting in the 
branches of trees or bushes over the water, but not infrequently I 
started, them from the ground, or saw them crouching on the muddy 
banks beneath the trees. Occasionally one would rise twenty or 
thirty yards back from the creek. This led me to suspect that they 
may sometimes feed by day, but I could obtain no positive proof of 
this. They were most uncertain in their behavior. As a rule, it 
was not difficult to get within long gunshot, provided one made 
little noise, but sometimes the bird would start a hundred yards 
or more ahead of my canoe, while, on the other hand, I occasion- 
ally passed within a few yards of one without disturbing it. The 
d 
