imagine a more beautiful district for the noble sport of falconry. One can readily 

 Bee, in the mind's eye, a gay party of lords and ladies from Wigmore Castle, with 

 the falconer in attendance, taking their station on the camp-hill on a fine autumn 

 morning, and eagerly watching for the appearance of the heron above the trees 

 when started by the beaters in the valley below. They would ride quickly in the 

 direction taken by the quarry ; the bird would be allowed to clear the high ground 

 of the forest ; when the hood would be taken from some favourite hawk, and rising 

 high in the air he would at once commence the pxirsuit over the broad valley 

 below. The whole course would be plainly visible from the high ground of the 

 forest, the rapid swoops of the noble bh-d to seize its prey, and the various efforts 

 made by the heron to escape its enemy, until either the qjiarry was struck down, 

 or it narrowly escaped by reaching the friendly shelter of some distant wood, as 

 fortune might favour the one or the other. Two falcons might be pitted against 

 each other, or several herons might be flushed together, and so the excitement 

 would be varied, and the rides through this fine scenery be made still more 

 enjoyable. The heron was then a favourite dish at the table, not less esteemed 

 than the bustard or peacock. It was ranked as royal game and protected as such 

 by the laws. Any one who took or destroyed its eggs incurred a fine of 

 twenty shillings, which was a very heavy penalty in those days. 



At this distance of time it is not possible to say whether any heronry 

 existed in the Forest itself, but it is well known that a fine colony of herons 

 occupied a grove of lofty oaks, growing in a hill-side dingle at "VVilley Lodge, about 

 two miles from Lingen, up to as late a period as 1836. There were from one to 

 two hundred nests there, and often several in the same tree. The grove 

 was felled by the owner, and thus unfortunately was destroyed one of the last 

 of the Heronries of Herefordshire.* 



* The Heronries op Herefordshire. — It is yet within the memory of man that 

 many Heronries existed in Herefordshire, although they have now become extinct. There 

 was one within a mile of the city of Hereford, on the fine elms at the Jloor. It gradually 

 dwindled down to a single pair of birds, and they disappeared about 60 years ago. There 

 was also a large Heronry on elm trees at Newcourt, Lugwardine. about three miles from 

 the city, and some few tenants remained to so late a period as 1853 There was a colony of 

 herons ocoupying some tall oak trees on the N.W. side of Bi'amjiton Brian park at the 

 beginning of this century, but when the exigencies of war caused the oaks to be felled the 

 birds joined their neighbours at WiUey Lodge. When the Willey Lodge Heronry was de- 

 stroyed, as above noticed, the herons were said to have gone to Plowden, near Bishop's 

 Castle, Shropshire, where the number of birds was much increased at the time. This 

 Heronry is stUl in existence. There was formerly a Heronry, it is said, at the Marsh farm, 

 Eaton Bishop, in the centre of the county, and possibly others. But the Heronry which 

 existed in this county to the latest period was at the Hawkswood, at the Moor, near Hay, 

 where the herons built on some tall oak trees. This Heronry was in the immediate vicinity 

 of a rookery, and here might be seen occasionally a curious border warfare between these 

 very different birds for the possession of some particular tree. This Heronry was a very 

 large one up to about the year 1852, when a large fall of timber disturbed the birds In the 

 year 1856 there were about a dozen nests there, but the herons gradually diminishad In 

 numbers imtil they were reduced to a single pair, which built there as lately as 1863. The 

 loss of Heronries is greatly to be regretted, but it is inevitable. Guns and gunpowder have 

 have become too abundant and cheap for these fine birds to escape. In the open, and with 

 fair play, the heron is a wary bird, and well able to take care of himself, but at the breeding 

 season they can of course be readily approached, and their destruction is chiefly due — alas 

 that it should be so — to shooting them at this time under the name of sport. 



The existing Heronries nearest to Herefordshire are the large one of Plowden, Salop ; 

 another at Treowen, near Monmouth, where 18 pairs of birds are now incubating (April, 

 1S70) i and another large one at Bagley Park, near Alce^ter. 



