362 GEALLATOEES, OR WADING BIRDS. 



some species are stationary, and they are to be met with all the 

 year round in countries the most dissimilar. 



The principal species of Herons are the Ash-coloured or 

 Common Heron (Fig. 141), the Purple Heron, the White Heron, 

 the Bittern, the Night Heron, and the Crab-eater. 



Every one knows the Grey Heron {Ardea cinerea), at least by 

 reputation, if only from La Fontaine's verse : — 



" Heron with the long bill, fit handle of a longer neck." 



Its height is about forty inches, and it is found in nearly all parts 

 of the globe. It is the most common of the French Herons, and 

 the only one which joins its fellows during the breeding season, in 

 order to build their nests and sit on their eggs, and rear their 

 young in company. The place appropriated for this assemblage is 

 generally a clump of lofty trees in the neighbourhood of some 

 large lake or river. On the simamits of these trees, or in the 

 angles formed by the branches, the Herons build their nests, 

 which are of very simple construction — a few boughs interwoven 

 together with smaller twigs, and without any additions, such 

 as moss, grass, &c., with which smaller birds love to line 

 their dwellings. In these nests the females lay three or four 

 eggs, and the males share with them the cares of incubation. 

 After the eggs are hatched, the male assists in the nourishment 

 of the young family. Frequently he disgorges into the bills 

 of his young ones the frogs and small fry he has just swal- 

 lowed ; sometimes he divides among them a large fish which he 

 brings from the adjacent lake or the more distant sea-shore. 

 Occasionally they undertake journeys in order to insure abun- 

 dance for their progeny, and their excursions often extend over 

 a very considerable tract of country. 



When the young Herons are able to fly, they leave the nest and 

 provide for their own wants. 



But the time for migration has arrived. About the beginning 

 of August, and always at the same date, the colony, then amount- 

 ing to five or six hundred individuals, range themselves in order 

 and quit the heronry. The following year they return thither, 

 and their arrival, like their departure, takes place on a regular 



