56 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



there must be few who have not encountered it in a wild state at some time or another. In 

 suitable spots it may occasionally be met with standing mid-leg in water on the look-out for 

 eels and other fish and frogs, a diet varied by an occasional young bird or small mammal. 

 Sometimes this prey is hunted, so to speak, the bird walking along with a slow, measured step, 

 striking with lightning rapidity and wonderful precision the moment its victim is sighted, whilst 

 at others it stands motionless, as when fishing, striking the instant the unsuspecting eel or 

 flounder comes within range. 



Herons breed in more or less extensive colonies, the nests — somewhat bulky structures, 

 made of sticks and lined with twigs — being placed in the tops of high trees. From four to 

 six is the normal number of eggs, and these are of a beautiful sea-green colour. The young- 

 are thinly clad in long, hairy-looking down, and for some considerable time are quite helpless. 



Similar in appearance to the common heron is the American Great Blue Heron, though 

 it is by no means the largest of the herons, as its name might seem to imply. This distinc- 

 tion belongs to the Goltath Heron. A 

 native of Africa, it is remarkable not only 

 for its size, but for an extraordinary de- 

 velopment of long, loose feathers hanging 

 down from the lower part of the breast, 

 and bearing a strange resemblance to an 

 apron, concealing the upper part of the legs. 



Passing over many sjiecies, we pause 

 to descant on the Egkkts. These are num- 

 bered amongst the most unfortunate of 

 birds, and this because of the gracefulness 

 and beauty of certain parts of the plumage 

 worn during the breeding-season, which are 

 coveted alike by Eastern magnates and 

 Western women. The feathers in question 

 are those known as "egrets," or. more com- 

 monly, "ospreys" ; and their collection, as 

 Professor Newton points out, causes some 

 of "the most abominable cruelty practised 

 in the animal world." 



The Cattle-egret, better known as 

 the Buff-backed Heron, breeds in the 

 southern portion of the Spanish Peninsula, 



where from March to autumn it is very common in the marshes of Andalusia, thousands con- 

 gregating there, herding with the cattle, from the backs of which they may be often seen pick- 

 ing otif the ticks : hence the Spaniards give them a name meaning "cattle-cleaners." 



The Night-iiekons are comparatively small birds, and derive their name from their habit 

 of turning night into day, waking up only as the shades of evening fall to hunt for food; 

 only during the breeding-season is this habit broken through, when they are obliged to hunt 

 for food for their young during the daytime. They breed in colonies, in bushes or low trees, 

 in the neighbourhood of swamps. In some places they are i)rotected — as, for instance, round 

 the Great Honam Temple at Canton, where these birds are held sacred. 



Colonel Swinhoc, says Mr. Howard Saunders, describes ihe nests "as placed thickly in 

 some venerable banyans, the granite slabs that form the jiavement beneath the trees being 

 bedaubed with the droppings of old and young, while from the nests arose the chattering cry 

 of the callow broods, for which the parent birds were catering the whole day long, becoming 

 more active at sunset. As darkness set in, the noise and hubbub from the trees rose to ? 

 fearful pitch." 



ffi./t b, W p. D.in,J., r.z.i. 



BUFF-BACKED 



T^ts hit J hahilually p'uh iinatsjr 



HERON 



<m tfu backs of cattle 



