1/2 THE COMMON HERON 



During a great portion of the year the Heron is a wanderer. I 

 ha\'e frequently seen it at least fifty miles distant from the nearest 

 heronry ; but when it has discovered a spot abounding in food, 

 it repairs thither day after day for a long period. 



In the month of January, if mild, but as a rule in February, 

 Herons show a disposition to congregate, and soon after repair to 

 tlieir old-established breeding-places, called Heronries. These are 

 generally Icjfty trees, firs or deciduous trees in parks, or even in 

 groves close by old family mansions. One at Kilmorey, by Loch 

 Gilphead, has long been frequented, though within a hundred 

 yards of the house. The nests, huge masses of sticks, a yard 

 across, lined with a little grass, and other soft materials, are placed 

 near each other, as many, sometimes, as a hundred in a colony,^ or, 

 more rarely, they are placed among ivy-clad rocks, ruins, or even 

 on the ground. Each nest contains three to four eggs, on which 

 the female sits about three weeks, constantly fed by her partner 

 during the whole period of incubation. Two weeks later a second 

 clutch of eggs is sometimes laid and hatched off whilst the first 

 young are in the nest. The power of running would be of little 

 use to a young bird hatched at an elevation of fifty feet from the 

 ground ; the yoimg Herons are consequently helpess till they are 

 sufficiently fledged to perch on the branches of the trees, where 

 they are fed by their parents, who themselves perch with the 

 facility of the Rook. Indeed, the favourite position of these birds, 

 both old and young, is, during a considerable portion of the day, 

 on the upper branches of a lofty tree, whither, also, they often 

 repair with a booty too large to be swallowed at once. 



By a statute of Henry VIII the taking of Herons in any other 

 way than by hawking, or the long bow, was prohibited on a penalty 

 of half a mark ; and the theft of a young bird from the nest was 

 visited with a penalty of ten shillings. 



Not to be acquainted with the noble art of Falconry was deemed 

 degrading : so that the saying, ' He does not know a Hawk from a 

 Heronshaw ', was a common expression of contempt, now corrupted 

 into the proverb, ' He does not know a Hawk from a handsaw ', 



^ Pennant counted eighty in one tree. 



