144 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



Hall, brought some Herons from Hamilton Palace, and 

 had them in the paddocks. He has no evidence that 

 any colony existed before then, so that the beginnings 

 of this one would seem to have been from birds which 

 had been some time under confinement. A few pairs 

 may be found breeding together in several other 

 localities, but whether from persecution, or from dis- 

 inclination on the part of the regular tenants to admit 

 fresh members into the community, a Heronry, if it 

 increase at all, does so very slowly. The Heron is 

 resident, and is well known everywhere, travelling, as it 

 does, over such a wide extent of country in search of 

 food : in winter it may be seen regularly on all the 

 river estuaries, sometimes in flocks of thirty or forty 

 individuals. Its eggs, varying from three to six in 

 number, but averaging four or five, are laid from the 

 middle of March to the middle of April, according to the 

 character of the season. The nests are almost invariably 

 placed at the extreme summit of a tall tree, preferably 

 spruce or larch, on the branches a little wa}^ out from 

 the trunk, and are built of large sticks, lined with finer 

 twigs. Between the extreme edges, though the sticks 

 here are very loosely put together, they measure about 

 two feet and a half, and in the middle are six inches 

 thick. Some nests have a considerable depression, 

 preserved until the young are hatched, when of course 

 they are flattened completely, whilst others are almost 

 flat to begin with, and it often happens that eggs are 

 blown out in high winds. This was the case during the 

 great storm of March 1883, at the Heronry at Browsholme 

 (near Clitheroe, but just over the Yorkshire border), 

 which, since the birds returned to it (after a long 

 absence) in 1877, has been under the constant observation 

 of Mr. T. Altham and myself. The young are hatched 



