Habits of the Heron, 4-55 



gulp down one of these animals without much apparent diffi- 

 culty. As the ordinary food of this bird consists of reptiles, 

 quadrupeds, and fish ; and as the heron can only catch the 

 fish when they come into shallow water; I think we may 

 fairly consider this wader as not very injurious to our pro- 

 perty ; especially when we reflect for a moment on the pro- 

 digious fecundity of fish. Take the roach for example. It 

 swarms here in multitudes sufficient to satisfy the cravings of 

 every heron and every cormorant in Europe, 



Should the lords of the adjacent fishponds ever read the 

 contents of this paper, I would fain hope that their animosity 

 against the heron will be diminished, and that they will order 

 their gamekeepers to spare in future a bird which every body 

 loves to see. Indeed, what can be more interesting to the 

 ornithologist than to have it in his power to watch a dozen of 

 these birds standing motionless on one leg, for hours together, 

 upon some leafless branch of a tree ; or to see them flapping 

 their way over his head, on wings much more arched than 

 those of any other bird that cleaves the liquid void ? 



The heron is gregarious during the breeding season ; 

 though sometimes a solitary nest may be found miles away 

 from the place of general rendezvous. At other times of the 

 year, the society seems to be dissolved ; and the bird is sel- 

 dom seen in this part of the country in parties of more than 

 ten or twelve together. The nest appears like that of the 

 rook, only often much larger ; and it may be found on the 

 willow, the oak, the fir, and the sycamore, and, probably, on 

 many other kinds of trees, when they are in a place which 

 affords security, and invites the heron to incubation. By the 

 time that the young are ready to fly, the outside of the nest, 

 and part of the tree which bears it, appear to the observer 

 below as though they had been completely whitewashed : but 

 the rains of winter cleanse the nest anew, and restore the 

 branches to their former colour. 



There is an old and vulgar notion, still current here, that, 

 when the heron is sitting on her eggs, her legs appear hang- 

 ing down on the outside of the nest. Probably the length of 

 the heron's legs has given rise to this absurdity. A very 

 slight inspection of the formation of the bird would suffice to 

 convince the observer of his error. The thighs of all known 

 birds are of a length exactly proportioned to that of the legs ; 

 wherefore, when a bird wishes to place itself in a sitting 

 position, the bending of the knee causes the leg to recede 

 sufficiently towards the tail to allow the feet to come to the 

 centre of the body. This being the case, the heron places its 

 legs in the nest with as much facility and ease as all other 



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