COMMON HERON. 169 



the ground till it was disabled. The alarm-note is a loud 

 ' frank, frank,' which never fails to disturb any water-fowl in 

 the vicinity ; but at the nest it is a prolonged ' kronk ' or 

 ' kraak.' 



Selby states that a pair of Herons, kept by Dr. Neill in 

 his garden at Canonmills, near Edinburgh, produced two 

 sets of eggs ; during incubation the male frequently took his 

 place on the nest when the female went off to feed, but 

 unfortunately both the female and the eggs were destroyed 

 by accident. Dr. Neill adds, " A large old willow-tree had 

 fallen down into the pond, and at the extremity, which is 

 partly sunk in the sludge, and continues to vegetate, Water 

 Hens breed. The old cock Heron swims out to the nest, 

 and takes the young if he can. He has to swim ten or 

 twelve feet, where the water is between two and three feet 

 deep. I have seen him fell a rat at one blow on the back of 

 the head, when the rat was munching at his dish of fish." 



The Heron was formerly esteemed as an article of food, and 

 Mr. Gurney states that the young are excellent eating just 

 before they leave the nest. Up to that time their diet con- 

 sists almost exclusively of fish, the taste for fur and feather 

 being acquired later. According to Folkard, the price of a 

 Heron in the time of Edward I. was from sixteen to eighteen- 

 pence : higher than that of any other wildfowl ; but by the 

 reign of Elizabeth the bird had fallen in favour, although 

 still held in some repute. 



The Heron appears to be a long-lived species, an,d, 

 amongst other instances, Mr. H. Stevenson quotes a state- 

 ment in 'The Annual Register' for 1767 (p. 107), under 

 date of July 7th, recording the capture by the Prince Stadt- 

 holder of Holland, of a bird with a brass inscription round 

 its leg, setting forth that it had been taken and released by 

 the Elector of Cologne in 1737. Dr. L. Companyo records 

 the capture of an adult near Perpignan, in the extreme 

 south-east of France, in April 1845, bearing the badge of 

 the Hawking Club of Loo, in Holland, dated 1843 ; another, 

 which had carried the inscription seven years, was killed 

 there in 1856 ; and Colonel Hamilton states that one was 



VOL. IV. z 



