COMMON HERON 15 
but when evading a Falcon or an Eagle it can twist and 
swoop with great velocity, and its powers of soaring are 
no less remarkable than those exhibited by the Stork or 
Crane. (See p. 40.) 
Voice.—The loud alarm-cry is generally sounded when 
the bird is about to rise, or when it 1s winging its way 
homeward to roost. It can be heard a long way off, even 
when the bird is a great height in the air. It may be 
syllabled ank-ank, or ack-ack, and the tone of the voice is 
very harsh and scolding. The note heard at the breeding- 
haunts is softer and sounds like crau-crau-craak. The half- 
fledged young keep up a constant chattering, tc-2c-tc. 
Nest. —Many species of birds which assemble in large 
companies to breed are more or less gregarious throughout 
the year, for instance, Rooks, Lapwings, Terns and Gulls. 
The Heron, on the contrary, is a bird which enjoys solitude 
except during the breeding-season, when it becomes dis- 
tinctly sociable. 
Herons are very early breeding-birds, congregating at 
their heronries towards the end of January. They usually 
build on lofty trees, such as the fir or beech, often in com- 
pany with Rooks and less frequently with Cormorants. In 
districts where trees are not available, low, stunted bushes 
are utilised. Heronries, however, are occasionally to be 
found in a variety of other sites, such as on the walls of ruins, 
covered or not with ivy, among reeds and bulrushes, on the 
bare side of a hill, and on the ground. I have found a 
few Herons’ nests on the wild rugged cliffs of the Dingle 
peninsula. The nests in a heronry vary in size and shape ; 
some are considerably larger and deeper than others, and 
only the smaller ones are ‘built out at the ends of slender 
branches.'. Those placed on thick, stunted bushes, on cliffs, 
or on the ground, often exceed in size those placed in trees. 
The more usual shape of the nests is that of a broad and 
rather flattened cup: the foundation 1s made of sticks, 
the lining is of finer twigs, sometimes of dried grass and 
other herbage. The eggs, three to five in number, are. 
bluish-green; they are ‘laid aay in February in sheltered 
' Herons on eeranciane their fii neni may often be seen 
precipitating themselves through the air “from a considerable height 
and perching without hesitation on the nearest branches, which are not 
always capable of sustaining their weight. It is amusing to see the 
antics of the great birds as they tumble through the tops of the trees 
before gaining a sure footing; their mates all the while uttering a low 
and anxious growl. 
