42 THE COMMON HERON. 



Mount in " Saltoun's Wood," says of the " Lord Lion King 

 at Arms," that 



His cap of maintenance was graced 

 With the proud heron-plume. 



Folkard mentions that " among our ancient customs, 

 was one of swearing an oath upon the dead body of a 

 Heron, and whereby many a gallant knight has, in years 

 long passed, plighted his troth to his ' ladye faire,' as the 

 most solemn and honourable manner of assuring her of 

 his sincerity." ^ 



It is said in some parts of the county that when Herons 

 are seen flying up the course of the Tweed in numbers it 

 betokens stormy weather. This may be on account of the 

 bird's habit of leaving discoloured waters and proceeding to 

 smaller and clearer streams during floods. The association 

 of the lofty flight of the Heron with approaching stormy 

 weather is thus referred to by Virgil in his Georgics : — 



notasque paludes 

 Deserit atque altam supra volat ardea nubem. 



And Thomson, in his description of an approaching storm in 

 winter, says : — 



Loud shrieks the soaring Hern, and with wild wing 

 The circling sea-fowl cleave the flaky clouds. 



The Heron generally builds on lofty trees in woods, 

 and commonly in colonies after the manner of the Kook ; 

 the nest, which is formed of sticks and lined with twigs 

 and dry grass, being of a large size. It is an early breeder, 

 and the eggs, which are three or four in number and of a 

 uniform bluish-green colour, are usually laid towards the 

 end of March.2 



1 The Wild Fowler, Folkard, second edition, 1864, p. 194. 



2 According to Mr. George Bolam's MS. JVotes he found eggs in the nests of the 

 Herons at the Pistol Plantation Heronry on the 1st of April 1881. Dr. Stuart 

 records that Mr. A. H. Evans saw young birds in the nests at the above Heronry 

 on the 2lRt of April 1879.— Hist. Ber. Nat. Chib, vol. ix. p. 135. 



r 



