14 ARDEIDZ 
banks of the river Maine, co. Kerry.!. When satiated with 
food the bird usually stands with its neck coiled or folded 
back, so that the head is well sunk between the shoulders, 
an attitude too seldom reproduced by the taxidermist. I 
have noted the remarkable tameness of immature birds in 
localities where they are not molested. For instance, on one 
of the lakes near Waterville, co. Kerry, I have sculled a 
boat, containing several occupants, to within ten yards of 
a Heron. We watched it wading, knee-deep, at a slow 
deliberate pace, along the brink of the lake, rapidly 
demolishing small fish. It did not appear in the least 
alarmed until we arrived right beside it among the rushes, 
when it quickly raised its head, and stretching its long 
neck to its fullest, took flight, alighting again a short 
distance on. 
Though Herons generally move slowly on foot or remain 
motionless when searching for food, I have seen parties of 
immature birds pacing at a brisk rate through shallow 
channels on the coast, snapping up, in quick succession, 
shrimps and tiny fishes, which were swarming beneath 
them. I have noticed this habit in early autumn when 
the old and young birds visit the esturine slob-lands and 
sand-flats of the coast. 
Food.—The Heron lives largely on coarse fresh-water 
fish, though in some places it is destructive to young 
trout and salmon. It is also fond of frogs and newts, 
and it preys, to a less extent, upon rats and young birds: 
in hard frost it has been known to carry off a screaming 
water-hen (Ussher). I have seen a Heron strike a Biack- 
bird, which occupied the same aviary, and swallow it, 
feathers and all. 
Flight.——A Heron flying is a characteristic figure. It 
leisurely flaps its ample wings, carrying its long legs straight 
out behind, which appear to the observer lke a pair of 
elongated tail-feathers, while the neck is drawn back 
between the shoulders. The Heron, therefore, when flying 
assumes quite a different pose from that of many other long- 
necked birds, e.g., Cormorants, Swans, Geese, Ducks, Grebes, 
Divers, which fly with their necks at full stretch. The 
Heron is, under ordinary circumstances, a slow-flying bird, 
1 Herons are numerous along this river, which skirts the Heronry of 
Kilcoleman Abbey. 
