Habits of the Heron. 453 



47°, rainy. The 27th, 50°, 52°, 49°, rainy. The 28th, 53°, 

 59°, 50°, cloudy ; after which the weather resumed its usual 

 state and temperature. During the whole of this time, the 

 barometer, which is, in general, very sensitive, although with 

 a limited range, remained fully as high as is usual in fine 

 weather, and its extreme variation was not more than the fifth 

 of an inch." — P. J. Brown. Thun, Canton of Berne, Swit- 

 zerland, June 22. 1835. 



[The incident, related by Mr. Brown, of a dog's inducing 

 the discovery of its master, buried in the snow, in a state of 

 unconsciousness, but not dead, may be used to call to mind 

 the affecting fate of the wanderer whose corpse was found, 

 some years ago, half buried in the snow, " deep below the 

 slippery ridge that separates Helvellyn from its lofty neigh- 

 bours," from which he, it is concluded, had fallen in a ter- 

 rific storm which had occurred twenty days before. His still 

 faithful dog was found, alive, stretched out beside its master's 

 corpse. This storm occurred at night, successive to a remark- 

 ably fine spring day. See the narrative entitled " The 

 Wanderer's Fate," in The New European Magazine, vol. iv. 

 p. 508 — 5 1 4 ; and see Scott's and Wordsworth's poems on 

 the same subject. — J. D.~] 



Art. II. Notes on the Habits of the Heron. By Charles 

 Waterton, Esq. 



Of all the large wild birds which formerly were so com- 

 mon in this part of Yorkshire, the heron alone can now be 

 seen. The kite, the buzzard, and the raven have been exter- 

 minated long ago by our merciless gamekeepers. Ignorant 

 of the real habits of birds, and ever bent on slaughter, these 

 men exercise their baneful calling with a severity almost past 

 belief. No sooner have they received from government their 

 shooting license, than out they go with the gun, and, under 

 one pretext or other, they kill almost every bird which comes 

 in their way. Our game laws are at the bottom of all this 

 mischief. 



" Illis, non saevior ulla 



Pestis, et ira Deum, Stygiis sese extulit undis." 

 Than these, a greater pest our statesmen never 

 Sent from their old burnt house near London river. 



Kites were frequent here in the days of my father ; but I, 

 myself, have never seen one near the place. In 1813, I had 

 my last sight of the buzzard. It used to repair to the storm- 



i i 3 



