. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Great Blue Herons. Taken Bohlman and W. L. Finley A TREETOP COLONY scrawny, ill-favored lit- tle brutes that they are, spend most of their time squabbling and trying to push each other out of the nest. There is with most herons a consider- able disparity of ages, and consequently of sizes, in the brood. The runt gets trampled or smothered in the early days, and one or more decaying carcasses of younger sons are a fa- miliar enough compo- nent i
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Great Blue Herons. Taken Bohlman and W. L. Finley A TREETOP COLONY scrawny, ill-favored lit- tle brutes that they are, spend most of their time squabbling and trying to push each other out of the nest. There is with most herons a consider- able disparity of ages, and consequently of sizes, in the brood. The runt gets trampled or smothered in the early days, and one or more decaying carcasses of younger sons are a fa- miliar enough compo- nent in the lining of a heron's nest. Now and then one of a conten- tious brood succeeds in toppling a brother off the platform and down the long abyss; but oftenest the pursued one escapes along the branch; or, if he falls, catches on a limb below, and scrambles back to safety, "tooth" and toe-nail. If he does fall to the ground, it is all day with him, for no matter what the state of his skin upon arrival, the parent birds never trouble to look him up. But however scattered the young may be between whiles, the ap- proach of the parent bird is a signal for all to gather. Upon alighting, the old bird first indulges a pensive moment, like a cow which is expecting another order of grass sent up from the proventriculum, after which she suddenly jabs her bill down the neck of the nearest squawker and dis- penses sweet nourishment from her secret store. This she does with each child in turn till all are fed. Fishing is necessarily a precarious business, involving long hours and more or less night work. The chicks suffer somewhat from exposure, no doubt, and the burning sun takes toll of the weaklings. Left alone, the babes console themselves with a low, lonesome cluck; but whenever the old birds are about, the older squabs keep up a loud cackling, not unlike that of Guinea hens, less shrill, perhaps, but of immensely greater volume. The parents, too, make an astonishing amount o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
