ois 
THE HERON AND HERONRIES. 227 
have not hitherto been recorded. To obtain the records I 
have, except in very few instances, written the various owners, 
or those employed on the estates. From those districts where 
the Heronries have long since ceased to exist, I have had but 
few replies, and frequently none at all. In such cases I have 
had to fall back on ‘‘Ormerod’s Cheshire,” which, fortunately, 
furnished the needful information. I would, however, have 
‘ preferred the information direct from the spot, but no one 
seemed able or willing to help. 
Lire History. 
The Heron begins to nest very early in the year, about the 
same time as the rooks, and incubation lasts about twenty-eight 
days. In his ‘British Birds” [l.c.], Mr. SAUNDERS says 
‘‘that sometimes a second clutch of eggs are laid a fortnight 
after in the same nest.” SEEBOHM, in contradiction to this, 
says: “only one brood is reared in a year.” (British Birds’ 
Eggs, Vol. ii., p. 468.) Hitherto, however, no one seems to 
have observed that the Heron sometimes lays one egg and then 
commences to sit, leaving an interval of some time between the 
laying of each egg. Asa proof that such is undoubtedly the 
case, I may quote the following from my own observations made 
in the Heronry at Eaton, during my visits there for the purpose 
of obtaining the life-history group now in the Museum, by kind 
permission of His Grace THE DuKE oF WeEsTMINSTER, K.G. 
The nest of four young birds in the group referred to are most 
decidedly in various stages of development; the smallest, I 
should say, was quite a fortnight younger than its full-fledged 
companions, and the latter differed in the condition of their 
plumage and size. A second nest examined contained one egg 
and a young bird, which, from its size, must have been nearly a 
week old; and a third nest contained five young in various 
stages of development. Mr. HartiInG mentions in ‘‘ The 
Essex Naturalist” (Vol. ii., p. 171), ‘‘that in blowing a clutch 
of eggs taken by him from a nest in the Heronry at Birch, two 
proved to have been much longer incubated than the other 
three ;” but the thought does not seem to have occurred to 
Mr. Hartinc that such was the frequent habits of these birds. 
Thus, there seems to be no definite system either in the laying 
of the eggs or the commencement of incubation. 
The “Purple Heron” ( Wycticorax Griseus, L.) is said to lay 
one egg and then commence to sit, and that there is an interval 
of two days between the laying of each egg. ([Saunders’ 
Brit. Birds, p. 368.] In this case, there is a definite period 
between the laying of each egg, which, so far as is at 
present known, is not the case with the common Heron. 
Undoubtedly, nature has so ordered this to diminish the 
amount of food required day by day, which would be very 
considerable if all the young birds in a nest attained the same 
