ARDEID.E. 449 



seasons and tlie supply of food, llieir usual haunts 

 are swamps, shallow rivers, or pools, where they 

 stand with their necks drawn down between their 

 shoulders, quietly watching the approach of a fish, 

 which they no sooner observe than they suddenly 

 dart upon it with their bill, and swallow it in an 

 instant ; they also feed upon small quadrupeds, frogs, 

 and various kinds of insects. Some species have 

 been observed perched upon the backs of cattle, 

 and feeding upon the larvge which infest their hide. 

 The nest is usually built upon the loftiest trees, or 

 on elevated buildings, or among the tall reeds on 

 the borders of rivers and lakes : it is formed of 

 sticks lined with small twigs loosely put together, 

 so as to form a large flat expanse. The female lays 

 from four to five eggs. 



The type of this sub-family, — 



The Common Heron {Ardea cinerea), though measuring- 

 three feet in length from the point of its beak to the 

 extrenuty of the tail, and four feet and a half from tlie 

 tip of one wing to that of the other, weighs but three 

 pounds and a half; consequently, though not formed for 

 rapid flight, its wings j^resent so large a surface that it 

 can support itself aloft with little exertion, and is enabled 

 without fatigue to mount high in air when pursued by 

 its natural enemies, the Falcons, to whom it would fall 

 an easy prey if it could only skim along the plains, on 

 account of the largeness of the mark presented to their 

 downward swoop. The Heron is a successful fisher, but 

 a fisher in shallow waters only, — to human anglers a very 

 pattern of patience and resignation ; up to its knees in 

 the water, motionless as a statue, witli the neck slightly 

 stretched out, and the eye steadily fixed but wide awake 

 to the motion of anything that has life, the Heron may 

 be seen in the ford of a river, the margm of a lake or 

 sea-side pool, or on the bank of an estuary. Suddenly its 

 head is darted forward with unerring aim, a small fish 

 is captured and instantly swallowed head foremost ; an 

 eel of some size requires different treatment, and is 

 brought to land that it may be beaten to death on the 

 shingle. A large fish is impaled on its dagger-like beak, 



