or so, at the beginning of each sweep turning over on one 
side and at its termination,on the other, without for an 
instant ceasing flapping, however. At each descent he made 
the sound already mentioned, but after the first repetition 
it ceased to remind us of the winnowing of wings (it was, no 
doubt, softened by distance and intervening trees the first 
time) for it possessed an unmistakable nasal and rather 
vibrant quality and seemed to be of vocal origin, Nichols 
thought it resembled the grating sound of a Squirrel’s tfeeth 
on the shell of a hickory nut but to me it suggested rather 
the ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-of White-bellied Nuthatch. 
There were, I think, at least seven syllables and they were 
given very rapidly and all on the same key. It is many years 
since I have seen a Marsh Hawk dive and chatter before but 
as I recall the previous experiences the birds have plunged 
much more nearly vertically and many times over nearly the 
same spot. This bird simply kept straight on, as I have said. 
His manner of flight reminded us all strongly of that of a 
Night-hawk, 
j^The young men saw two Great Blue Herons flying over, 
high towards the north-ea.st early this morning. Nichols 
shouted at them,when they turned back and circled. He says 
they will nearly always do this when shouted at. 
Nichols and Bowditch also found two Chickadees’ nests 
this morning, both in low stumps, the holes descending nearly 
