HERODIONES, ( 39 ) ARDEIDAi. 



THE COMMON HEEON. 



GREY HERON, CRESTED HERON, HERONSHAW, HURON, FRANK, 

 CRANE, CRAIGIE HERON, LANG-NECKIT HAARAN. 



Ardea cinerea. 

 C^e l^urant, !^uron, or ^erongiijeufft* 



Lo ! at his siege, the Hern 

 Upon the bank of some small furling brook 

 Observant stands to take his scaly prize, 

 Himself another' s game ; for, mark, behind 

 The wily falc' ner creeps ; his grazing horse 

 Conceals the treach'rousfoe, and on his fist 

 Til unhooded Falcoi sits ; with eager eye 

 She meditates her prey, and in her wild 

 Conceit already plumes the dying bird. 



SOMERVILLE. 



In olden times this interesting and picturesque bird, which 

 is frequently seen in every district of the county, was so 

 much prized for the " marvellous and delectable " sport 

 which it yielded to the falconer, that an Act was passed 

 by the Scottish Parliament in 1493 for preserving Herons.^ 

 Mr. Thomas Dickson, in his Accounts of the Lord High 



1 James iv. Anno 1493. — " Anent the distroying of Heron sewis."— ^c^s of the 

 Parliaments of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 235. This Act was renewed hi 1567 against all 

 such as shoot with " Culveringis, Crosbow, or Handbow ony time at Dae, Rae, 

 Hart, Hynd, Hair, Cunning, Dow, Herron, or foule of river," the penalties being 

 that they "sail foirfault and tyne their haill moveabil gudis," and "gif the 

 committer of the cryme be ane vagabound not havand gudis, that the judge, 

 quhom befoir he is convict, keip and hauld him in prison for the space of fourtie 

 dayis. And that for the first fault. And the nixt fault, to cut of his richt hand." 

 —The Laws and Acts of Parliximent of Scotland, by Sir Thomas Murray of 

 Glendook, 1681, pp. 186, 187. 



