154 MattIngley, Move About Herons, [ist^'j'ln! 



recognised. Notice how thej' police the irrigation channels 

 which supply water for agricultural purposes, and observe them 

 catching the earth-boring crustacean — theyabbie — which does so 

 much damage by drilling holes through the retaining bank and 

 allowing the water to run to waste ! Notice the vast numbers of 

 grasshoppers these birds consume daily, thereby helping the 

 irrigationist and pastoralist — and especially the latter, since these 

 birds devour large numbers of land snails, which are the inter- 

 mediate hosts of the liver fluke, a parasite that is so harmful to 

 our sheep ! The flukes attach themselves to the liver of the 

 sheep, which gradually become emaciated and unfit for food, 

 whilst their wool deteriorates and loses its value. The depreda- 

 tions of this obnoxious parasite cause untold losses to our 

 squatters and pastoralists. If the statistics of the losses so 

 caused were compiled, no doubt it would total several millions 

 of pounds sterling. Without their host the flukes cannot 

 multiply, since they need the interior of the living snails to 

 successfully hatch their young. As the Heron tribe disposes of 

 myriads of these snails annually, the great amount of good done 

 thereby would, no doubt, represent the annual value of over a 

 million pounds sterling. It is not mere sentiment that prompts 

 one to protect the Heron tribe. It is these birds' solid worth 

 that calls us to wave the banner of protection before the com- 

 munity and ask for an intelligent investigation of the value that 

 our feathered friends are to us, and how deeply they are wrapped 

 up with our domestic economy. 



When disturbed the birds rose from the shallows and flew 

 clumsily away with their customary ungainly flight. After 

 dint of paddling we at last reached the home of the Nankeen 

 Night-Herons. Hundreds of birds were seen feeding their 

 young ones. W^hat an enrapturing sight it was to see these 

 chestnut-coloured birds coming to and going from their nests, 

 their two or three long white nuchal plumes, with which, no 

 doubt, they woo one another, gracefully bending from their napes 

 and contrasting agreeably with their black crest and nankeen 

 back plumage. Unfortunately there was no time to devote to 

 waiting for the old birds to get accustomed to the camera being 

 in close proximity to their nests, so that I could photograph 

 them feeding their progeny. All that could be accomplished 

 in the time at my disposal was to climb up and photograph 

 the young in the nest. The young Herons were observed using 

 their featherless wings to assist them in maintaining their 

 position in the nest, and it was a remarkable sight to observe how 

 these fledglings grasped the rude flat platform (which at this time 

 of their existence is but an apology for a nest, and has no retain- 

 ing concavity or edge), with their feet, and how tenaciously they 

 clung to it, both with their powerful toes and naked wings. 

 After several snapshots had been taken of these interesting 



