. The oist . ights outsideof the grassy patch and hops to thenest, thereby forming a ;;ath, and inthis way it becomes easy to the ex-perienced eye to find the nest. The bittern lays from three to sixeggs. After several weeks the ycungwill emerge from the eggs. It wasquite a treat for me when at one timeI found two downy young in front oftheir mother, who was protecting thethree remaining eggs from which theyoung had not emerged. After sev-eral weeks the young are quite largeas the picture shows. This picture isdue to Ed and Frank Zesch. The fe-male is very persistent when sittingon the eggs, a
. The oist . ights outsideof the grassy patch and hops to thenest, thereby forming a ;;ath, and inthis way it becomes easy to the ex-perienced eye to find the nest. The bittern lays from three to sixeggs. After several weeks the ycungwill emerge from the eggs. It wasquite a treat for me when at one timeI found two downy young in front oftheir mother, who was protecting thethree remaining eggs from which theyoung had not emerged. After sev-eral weeks the young are quite largeas the picture shows. This picture isdue to Ed and Frank Zesch. The fe-male is very persistent when sittingon the eggs, and in several cases, aswith the woodcock, had to be takenbodily from the nest and eggs, andeven will not budge when a dog isstanding over them. It is quite difficult for the parentsto supply food to their young. In oneinstance which I have never seen re-corded, the adult male flew with afrog to a nearby shrub and piercedthe frog on a short dead limb, for fu-ture use. To my knowledge, when the 324 THE OOLOGIST. The Young of the American Bittern—Not a Handsome Bird THE OOLOGIST 326 first set of eggs is taken, the motherinvariably a second set, so theirextermination may be tar off. Ottonier , X. Y. We are indebted to Mr. Reinecke forthe use of plates illustrating this ar-ticle.—Ed. Breeding Birds of iVlarshall Co., III. In the Ornithologist and Oologist,Vol. XV, Page 113 (August, 1S90) Ipublished a carefully ])repared Listof Birds Breeding in Marshall Co.,fUinois. Now, 22 years later, 1 desire as thelesult of those years of experienceand observation to supplement thatlist and to amend the same in the fol-lowing jjarticulars, that it may bebrought down to date and made as ab-solutely accurate as possible. Twen-ty-two years is a long span and partof the breeding season of every oneof these years was spent by me in thefield within this county. Many changeshave worked amongst the birds andsome new species added. The changesthat I desire to make in this list a
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