COMMON HERON. 163 



The Common Hekon is, as regards the British Islands, 

 the most numerous and the best known of the group of 

 birds now under consideration ; and in the pahiiy days of 

 falconry its breeding-places were almost held sacred ; the 

 bird was considered royal game, and penal statutes were 

 enacted for its preservation.* Now, however, the Heron is 

 disregarded, and left to depend on its own sagacity for its 

 safety. During winter the Heron is watchful, shy, and 

 often, although not invariably, solitary; but from the early 

 part of February onwards, numbers may be seen resort- 

 ing to some favourite haunt which they have probably 

 occupied during the breeding-season for years in succession. 

 At this time they resemble the Rooks in many of their 

 habits, building like those well-known birds on high trees ; 

 and in such numbers do they associate, that Pennant men- 

 tions having counted more than eighty nests upon one oak 

 at Cressy Hall, near Spalding, in Lincolnshire, — an estate 

 then belonging to the Heron family. Sometimes Herons 

 make their nests on precipitous rocks near the coast, as, in 

 former times, at South Stack Lighthouse, near Holyhead, 

 mentioned by Mr. Eyton, and at the Great Orme's Head ; 

 and, at the present day, on the Point of Ardnamurchan, 

 among the crags covered with ivy and shrubs. They also 

 build on the ground ; sometimes, as in several parts of 

 Ireland, on the bare hillside, or on the walls of ruins. The 

 nest is of large size, having much the appearance of that of 

 the Rook, but flatter and broader ; it is formed of sticks, and 

 lined with smaller twigs, fibre, and dry grass ; and in it 

 are deposited three or four eggs, of a uniform bluish-green 

 colour, averaging in measurement 2*5 by 1"75 in. In Eng- 

 land they are, as a rule, laid early in March, but occasionally, 

 if the season is very mild, in January, for Mr. J. Young took 

 nestlings on the 23rd February, 1884 ; and even in the High- 



* The various names ' Heron,' 'heronsewe ' for a joung bird, ' hern,' 'hern- 

 shaw,' ' hanser,' 'hernser,' &c. , have been referred to the Sansktit 'hansa'; 

 but Prof. Skeat does not venture so far back (Concise Etym. Diet. p. 201). 

 Heron-shaw also means a wood wherein Herons breed (Cotgrave). In some parts 

 of Great Britain and in Ireland a Heron is called a ' Crane ' ; it is also misnamed 

 Stork,' c.fj. Storks-wood, near Beverley. 



