THE PURPLE HERON. 



39 



The chicks were terrified at our approach, and those 

 not old enough to get away crawled about the nest in 

 abject fear or lay trembhng, clutching anything within 

 their reach. 



In common with all young Herons, they are hatched as 

 helpless ugly httle things, with scarcely any down to hide 

 their naked ill-fitting skins, and as they crawl slowly about 

 the nest, staring upward with their cold fish-hke eyes, one 

 is forcibly reminded of the reptihan ancestry of birds. 



There was not a single nest in the whole colony which 

 had eggs only, therefore we had no option but to set up 

 the tent to one containing young. It was difiicult to know 

 which to choose, as nearly all were empty, the occupants 

 having left on our approach, and at this time we did not 

 know whether the larger and feathered young would 

 again return to their homes when all was quiet. So, 

 though the elder ones would have been the more interest- 

 ing, we selected a nest containing small chicks and 

 opposite to which grew a large sallow bush. By lopping 

 off a branch here and there we managed to get the tent 

 erected right inside the bush, and when one or two others 

 had been cut down and propped up against it, we our- 

 selves could hardly see anything more unusual in it than 

 a densely thick patch of sallows. 



Our guide was very doubtful whether the birds would 

 return, thinking that the excessive bulk of the screen 

 would cause them too much alarm. We were therefore 

 not a httle relieved the next morning to find that the 

 young had full— yes, very full— belHes ; but though 

 glad thereby to learn that they had not been forsaken, 

 this same fulness was in itself a serious handicap. Young 

 Herons are not fed very frequently during the day, and 

 we knew only too well that in their present gorged state 

 they could without harm last till evening, should their 

 mother see reason not to return. Something had to be 

 done so that those chicks would be clamorous before 

 long, and, having no castor oil or salt and warm water 



