114 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



designated as the " Cram mayde," whose duties 

 would appear to have chiefly consisted in feeding up 

 poultry and Herons — in this latter case rather a work 

 of supererogation I should imagine, unless indeed 

 oatmeal really formed a considerable portion of the 

 diet forcibly administered. 



Herons, when watching for small fishes, will stand 

 perfectly motionless for very long spaces of time, 

 with necks slightly drawn in towards the body in the 

 curve most convenient for the unerring dart at the 

 prey, but in very shallow waters they wade actively 

 about in pursuit. One often hears and reads of 

 fishes " transfixed " by the beak of a Heron, but in 

 many years' close observation of these birds, both in 

 a wild state and in captivity, I have only once l^nown 

 of such an occurrence, and feel convinced that it was 

 unintentional ; the victim is, as a rule, seized between 

 the points of the mandibles, and even in striking in 

 self-defence the bird always slightly opens them. 

 The Heron was the most highly esteemed quarry for 

 falconry in this and most of the countries of Europe 

 before enclosures put an end to the possibility of 

 following up the flight on horseback, but at present 

 this most noble branch of the most noble of all sports 

 is virtually at an end so far as England is concerned, 

 although till a comparatively recent date successfully 

 carried on by the Loo Hawking Club on the extensive 

 heaths in the neighbourhood of that village in Gelder- 

 land, under the patronage of the Royal House of 

 Orange, and with the support and concurrence of 

 many of our countrymen. The current stories of 

 Falcons speared by the beak of the Heron in the air 

 are simply fables. I believe that I may say that this 

 quarry never used the beak at all in the air as a 

 means of defence, but once on the ground, the 



