94 
THE BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND 
what appears to be a pile of brush on 
every tree, and on each pile a dump¬ 
ish bird with a long - bill, more like a 
hen than anything else. This is the 
Black-crowned Night Heron, and it is 
likely that there may be a hundred or 
more nests in the colony. Each nest 
contains four blue eggs about the size 
and shape of a bantam’s egg. In simi¬ 
lar localities the Great Blue Heron, or 
the Green Heron make their nests. 
A little later the edges of the 
swamps will be found alive with small 
birds. Near the border of some pool 
or brook, the Maryland Yellow-throats 
build their home and one may hunt for 
hours before it is discovered. The 
beautiful little nest is usually well 
hidden in some tussock or clump of 
grass, and contains three or four white 
eggs, dotted with brown. The parent 
birds will do everything in their power 
to divert your attention and it will be 
hard to resist the wiles of the hand¬ 
some black-headed little yellow male. 
I he Black-poll Warbler and the 
Water Thrush will be there also, the 
former noticeable by his black head. 
Then, too, the Red-start may be found. 
He is a strange little chap, sometimes 
building his nest in low bushes, some- 
Blue Bird 
times in trees forty or fifty feet from 
the ground. The Redstart’s plumage 
is not of the hue that his name implies, 
but of orange and black, a good deal 
like a Baltimore Oriole on a small 
scale. This latter bird will come'from 
the South about May first, or a little 
earlier, and flash like a ray of sun¬ 
light from tree to tree. Presently 
his more sombrely dressed mate 
will put in an appearance and 
the pair will begin about the end of 
May to construct, at the tip of some 
branch overhanging the roadside, one 
of the nests with which we are all so 
familiar. It is a beautiful nest, woven 
out of fibres, with here and there a bit 
of string or gaudy cloth for ornament. 
LTpon one occasion a patriotic person 
hung red, white and blue worsted near 
his home, hoping that an oriole, which 
was building near by, would use some 
of it; and he was highly gratified when 
on July Fourth, a brood of young ori¬ 
oles resplendent in their orange and 
black liveries of Lord Baltimore, for 
whom the bird was first named, 
chirped noisily from a red, white and 
blue nest. 
Leaving the wet haunts of these 
birds and coming into the dry wood¬ 
lands, where the ground has a peren- 
American Robin 
