62 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 
in the manner of an eagle’s eyry, of sticks crossing 
one another, and supported upon the branches or 
between the forks of high trees. All the species 
also are social, nestling in large communities, after 
the manner of rooks ; though instances are not un- 
common of individual pairs breeding solitary. 
The plumes of the heron were formerly in high 
request in Europe, as ornaments for the caps and 
helmets of the nobility; and they still form a part 
of the splendid costume of a knight of the garter. 
In the East they bear a high value. Chardin tells 
us, that the Persians catch the heron, and, after de- 
priving it of its long feathers, sufter it to depart ;* 
and these plumes even form a part of the royal cor- 
onet or crown of Persia. Not only so, but dia- 
monds and other precious stones, set in the shape 
of heron’s feathers, adorn the dhul-bandt of the 
Persian monarch, some of which are said to be 
worth more than twenty thousand pounds sterling. 
In North America also, the Indians, who are very 
choice in feathers, hold those of the several species 
of heron in high estimation for ornamenting their 
hair or topknot, and Wilson tells us they are some- 
times seen in the market-place of New-Orleans 
with bunches of them for sale. 
CHAPTER VI. 
BASKET-MAKING BIRDS. > 
Auruouven, in many of the instances recorded in 
this volume, birds far excel us in the neatness and 
delicacy of their workmanship, yet those which we 
* Chardin’s Travels, p. 82. 
