on the clcetrir liLiht roincrter on a pi'Ic beside tlie road, but, 
as tliis was pulled down, ibev moved abmg a few poles, and 
liuallv found a suitable place on the cross anus. This nest 
was not disHirlied, l)ut 1 was iuforiued that the birds were so 
uueasN’ when aiiv one passed that ibev did not rear any younq 
that year. 
riiere are several nests in llristol County built on j)oles 
erected by the farmers, with a carl wheel irr cross arms placf'd 
on top f"r a platform, and the birds readil} take to this special 
device for their comfort. 
The attachment f(jr the same nest and their return to it 
year after year by the same pair of birds (for it is considered 
that they mate for life) is a well known fact, and there are 
several nests which are known to have been occu])ied for a 
lonj;' period of years. C)ne nest in Bristol County has been 
annually used for a period extendinjj back to the time of 
Lafayette’s visit to this state about 1780, and w^as until recentlv 
still ocenpied. I’robably the same birds that originally occu¬ 
pied it have long since died, for it is presumed that wdien one 
bird dies, the survivor seeks a new mate, so that the pair last 
using it as a home may be conp^aratively young birds. A nest 
in the noted colony on I’lum Island has been used for over 
forty years, and as it is located on the ground, as are most 
of the nests there, and nesting material annually added, it has 
been built up by them to a height of over seven feet. Where 
tlie nests are blown down, or the tree blowm over in severe 
gales, the birds resort to a nearby tree and build a new nest 
Vvliich is at first (iuite small as compared with the older nests. 
An uriusual instance of their love of the same tree I ob¬ 
served at Bristol. .V I'air for several years had their nests on 
the horizontal limb of a large elm some four feet in diameter 
at the base, standing close lieside the road. This tree was verv 
old, and wdiile alive and apparently sound from the outside, 
the interior was decaved, as was sbowm wdien it blew^ over in 
the terrible gale of November, 1895, breaking ofif short, about 
five feet above the ground. The birds upon their return in 
tlic spring built a small shallow nest on the top of the broken 
off stum|), but it being so easily accesible I doubt whether thev 
sucecedefl m rearing any young. 
