Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1901 — Heron Nests in the Maine Woods. [ARTICLE]

Heron Nests in the Maine Woods.

There are three known heron colonies in New England. One of them ip on the plantation just to the north of Sebec Lake. On a point of land reaching out into the pond is a growth of tall silver birches, and there are at least 100 nests in the tops of these trees. The trees are tall, without limbs for fo.rty feet or more from the ground. It is a well known fact that L'erons never build a nest in a tree with limbs much less than forty feet from the earth. The nests are constructed from small sticks, some up to an inch in diameter. The nest is at least two feet across, and the eggs are a trifle smaller than a hen’s egg, add of a pale blue color. The old birds go long distances on their foraging trips, in sdme cases forty and fifty miles. The birds of this species about Moosehead Lake and around the ponds miles to the south all make their way to this particular colony at night. Standing on the point one can see the birds coming from all directions during the period in which they feed their young.—New York Tribune.