4i8 HERON 



liad enjoyed, and still more, it would seem, from agricultural im- 

 provement, which, by draining meres, fens and marshes, has 

 abolished the feeding-places of a great population of Herons, many 

 of the larger Heronries have broken up — the birds composing them 

 dispersing to neighbouring places and forming smaller settlements, 

 most of which are hardly to be dignified by the name of Heronry, 

 though commonly accounted such. Thus the number of so-called 

 Heronries in the United Kingdom, and especially in England and 

 Wales, has become far greater than formerly, but no one can doubt 

 that the number of Herons has dwindled. Mr. Harting gaA-e, in 

 1872 {Zoologist, s.s. pp. 3261-3272 ; with additions and corrections, 

 pp. 3404-3407), a list of those existing in the three kingdoms, 

 more than 200 in number, of which a little over one-half are in 

 England and Wales, more than 50 in Scotland, and nearly 50 in 

 Ireland. The sites chosen by the Heron for its nest vary greatly. 

 It is generally built in the top of a lofty tree, but not unfrequently 

 (and this seems to have been much more usual in former days) 

 near or on the ground among rough vegetation, on an island in a 

 lake, or again on a rocky cliff of the coast. It commonly consists 

 of a huge mass of sticks, often the accumulation of years, lined 

 with twigs, and in it are laid from four to six sea-green eggs. The 

 young are clothed in soft flax-coloured down, and remain in the 

 nest (NiDiCOL^) for a considerable time, therein differing remark- 

 ably from the " pipers " of the Crane, which are able to run almost 

 as soon as they are 

 hatched. The first 

 feathers assumed by 

 young Herons in a 

 general way resemble 

 those of the adult, 

 but the fine leaden-grey back, the pure white breast, the black 

 throat-streaks, and especially the long pendent plumes, which char- 

 acterize only the very old birds, and are most beautiful in the cocks, 

 are subsequently acquired. The Heron measures about 3 feet from 

 the bill to the tail, and the expanse of its wings is sometimes not 

 less than G feet, yet it weighs only between 3 and 4 t). 



Large as is the common Heron of Europe, it is exceeded in size 

 by the Great Blue Heron of America, Ardea herodias, which 

 generally resembles it in appearance and habits, and both are 

 smaller than the A. sumatrana or A. tijphon of India and the Malay 

 Archipelago, while the A. goliath, of wide distribution in Africa and 

 Asia, is the largest of all. The Purple Heron, A. purpurea, as a 

 well-known European species having a great range over the Old 

 World, also deserves mention here. Of the species included in 

 Schlegel's second section, little need now be said. They inhabit 

 the tropical parts of Africa, Australia and America. The Egrets, 



Bill of Heron. (After Swaiiison.) 



