COMMON HERON. 133 
Feltwell, has since maintained a private establishment, 
and with his two remarkable falcons “ De Ruyter’ and 
“Sultan” had many grand flights in the Hockwold 
country, the Didlington herons, still strictly preserved, 
have suffered little persecution of late from this cause. 
Crows, rooks, and jackdaws, as egg stealers and even 
devourers at times of the young “squabs,” may certainly 
be reckoned amongst their natural enemies ; but of late 
years the extensive drainage of the “ Fen ” district, thus 
limiting their means of procuring food has had far more 
effect on the numbers of the Didlington herons than 
could possibly have been effected by the Corvide gen- 
erally, which, in like manner, are less numerous than in 
former times. A very clever sketch by Mr. Carter, 
taken from the summit of a Scotch fir, overlooking a 
portion of this extensive heronry, appeared in a recent 
number of the “ Illustrated News,’* and the bird’s-eye 
view thus obtained by the artist of that busy scene 
is described as most interesting. “On emerging from 
the deep shade, through the thick matted foliage of the 
Scotch fir tops, the old herons, alarmed by his intrusion, 
sailed to and fro anxiously overhead, while the young 
birds, which had been making a hissing and chattering 
noise, not unlike that of magpies, suddenly collapsed 
into silence, and peered cautiously from their nests.” 
Deserted nests were tenanted by other lodgers, such as 
wood-pigeons, jackdaws, sparrows, and starlings; in 
one nest was a family of brown owls; and spotted 
and green woodpeckers, a wryneck, and a squirrel were 
also observed amongst the topmost branches. Some ten 
years ago, as I am informed by Mr. Tyssen Amburst, 
the present owner of the estate, owing to the old brush- 
wood in the heronry (the trees of which were very tall 
ash) being cut down, the herons shifted their nests, 
* See volume lii, p. 560, with description at p. 566. 
