142 The Richmond Herons. 



t"lni^.lli^y touclies to their homes. One visitor has, indeed, been over- 

 heard to comment upon the ' number of seagulls ' that were flying round 

 the wood; the remark was accepted without demur by others and the 

 matter dropped. The difference between the 5ft. span of a Heron's wings 

 and that of a little black-headed gull's may be as indiscernible to the 

 inexpert as that between a small single-seated aeroplane flying very low 

 and a Handley Page droning some 5,000 ft. up. 



" It is a grand sight to see the birds with slow and heavy beat of 

 wing approaching llic [lark and then dropping lower and lower in si)irals 

 until, wilh an unliingeing effect, they release their legs, and stand erect 

 ui)on the the topmost branches of a tree. Their conversation, an inces- 

 sant series of croaks, squawks, and noises, can only be likened to the 

 barkings of many small dogs. When the young Herons are hatched, and 

 are large enough to stand upright in the nests, this noise is redoubled, 

 and continues all day and half into the night. It might be thought that 

 there was an adequate supply of frogs, small fish, and other dainties in 

 the Pen Ponds, but the birds i^refer, except very early in the morning, to 

 go further afield ; there is a regular track followed by the foraging parents 

 which leads directly over the chimney-pots of Richmond to the tidal parts 

 of the river by Syon House and the meadows of Chiswick. Perhaps 

 .salt water adds relish to their finds, for the quieter backwaters Hampton 

 Court way are not frequented to the same extent. The appetites of the 

 young ones must be voracious, for the devoted birds return again, and yet 

 again, with some tit-bit until it is practically dark, and are hard at work 

 before it is really light iiext morning. 



" When July comes the Herons leave the park, and sjjend the 

 autumn further from l.ondon, but at tlie end of January, no matter how 

 wintry the weather, they reappear once more. The heronry must be of 

 great antiquity, indeed most heronries are older than local tradition can 

 reckon, and probably it has been continuously inhabited from times before 

 the enclosure of the park. As there is evidence by the number of unoccu 

 pied nests, that it was more populous some few years ago, it is earnestly 

 to be hoped that the present generation will encourage the next to remain 

 true to the site. One final word of thankfulness. What changes have 

 the school authorities wrought in the present-day boy that he makes no 

 attempt upon the great blue-green eggs which are reposing in those nests ' 

 One appreciates the vigilance of the part -keepers, but a country lad would 

 plan to emulate the raid against the local heronry so vividly recorded 

 among his school-time exploits by the late Captain Selous." 



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