. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . theLittle Blue Heron along the eastern shore of the island, wherethey nested in the mangroves out over the water. Four blueeggs was the usual complement of their nests, or varyingnumbers of young. At first the young of this species are purewhite ; then slaty-blue feathers crop out; but it is not untiltheir third summer is near that they don their completedark bluish uniform. One poor little white fellow had falleninto the water, and was nearly chilled and exhausted whenI found him. I put
. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . theLittle Blue Heron along the eastern shore of the island, wherethey nested in the mangroves out over the water. Four blueeggs was the usual complement of their nests, or varyingnumbers of young. At first the young of this species are purewhite ; then slaty-blue feathers crop out; but it is not untiltheir third summer is near that they don their completedark bluish uniform. One poor little white fellow had falleninto the water, and was nearly chilled and exhausted whenI found him. I put him back into his nest out at the end ofthe branches, and set one of his drv and contented brothers THE GREAT CUTHBERT ROOKERY 75 upon a firmer branch, where he stood very sweetly for hispicture. I also secured pictures of the adults in flight orupon the trees, from the boat. Upon their previous visit here, my friends had seen twelveof the elegant Roseate Spoonbills fiying about, and hadexamined a few nests, containing either three large eggsbeautifully blotched with lilac, or the downy young of very. YOUNG LITTLE BLUE HERON. STOOD VERY SWEETLY FORHIS picture tender age. Now they were all gone, their nests beingplundered by crows or buzzards. The only trace of themI found was a single spoonbills egg in an ibiss nest, withtwo eggs of the ibis. The Fish Crow and the Turkey Buzzard represent the pre-datory forces which are allied with man in waging war upon 76 WILD WINGS these colonies of helpless water-birds. Though I did not actu-ally see the buzzards looting the nests, I am sure that thesesolemn-looking, red-faced fellows do not hang around therookery for any benevolent purpose. Yet their ravages arenot as open and unblushing as those of their smaller com-panions. The Fish Crows are nothing if not audaciousthieves. A band of them was always prowling about ourcamp to appropriate whatever they could. When we pulledacross to the rookery in the morning, they would descendand eat ii
Size: 1586px × 1575px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorjobh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds
