8 



Crieff, Glondocliart, and some other places ; and, tliougli not so plentiful 

 as formerly, being a good deal kept under by gamekeepers, on the accu- 

 siation of taking a trout or two from some preserve, they are still to bo 

 seen on the estuary about Mugdrum, and lower down ; there congregating 

 during the Autumn months in pretty considerable niunbers, where I 

 have counted from twenty to thirty at a time, scattered in various direc- 

 tions over the mud banks — each taking up his solitary stand in some 

 clioice spot of his own, either near the water's edge, or sometimes nearly 

 knee-deep in one of the numerous little watercourses which intersect 

 the banks, anxiously awaiting the flowing tide. With eye intent, and 

 position fixed, he watches the arrival of the small fish, as they unsus- 

 piciously come up as the water rises, when, quick as lightning, and with 

 unerring stroke, the head is darted forward, and a fluke or a M'riggling eel 

 is the result, which, if of a proper size, is innuediately devoured, head 

 foremost. At these times it is highly interesting to watch their motions 

 with a powerful glass, as near as may be without being perceived, and 

 witness the admirable and expert manner in which they will throw a 

 fish into the air, giving it a certain cant, and invariably catching it head 

 downwards. On one occasion, while thus watching, I observed a dab 

 that had been secured, but was found to be too broad to swallow, and it M'as 

 not till after repeated trials and tossings that at last it was so caught as to 

 be doubled in some way, and finally to disappear, but not without several 

 convulsive efforts on the part of the Heron to get it down. But it is not 

 always they are so fortunate, becoming sometimes victims to their own 

 voracity, by being choked in endeavouring to swallow what has proved 

 to be too big for them. On this subject the late Mr Yarrell relates a 

 very singular instance of the death of a Heron by striking its sharp beak 

 through the head of an eel, piercing both the eyes. The eel thus held 

 had coiled itself so tightly round the neck of the Heron as to stop the 

 bird's respiration, and both were thus found dead. As the banks get 

 covered and the fishing ceases, these birds betake themselves to some of 

 the old stone dykes which jut out into the river, where, with head 

 drawn back between the shoulders, and perhaps standing on one leg, 

 six or seven may be seen in a row, patiently waiting, if not disturbed, 

 till it be time to resume fishing operations. Should it, however, be late 

 tide, they retire for the night, either singly or in twos and threes, when, 

 from high up in the air, their luimusical "quanck" will sometimes 

 suddenly strike the ear in the gloaming with startling effect, as they 

 otherwise silently wing their way to some distant pine wood to roost. 

 Though a fish feeder, he is not particular as to diet, as frogs, mice, rats, 

 water hens, or anything else that may come in his way, even to a 

 young ^vild duck, is not refused. Though a Heron may do a certain 



