418 HERON 
had enjoyed, and still more, it would seem, from agricultural im- 
provement, which, by draining meres, fens and marshes, has 
abolished the feeding-places of a great population of Herons, many 
of the larger Heronries have broken up—the birds composing them 
dispersing to neighbouring places and forming smaller settlements, 
most of which are hardly to be dignified by the name of Heronry, 
though commonly accounted such. Thus the number of so-called 
Heronries in the United Kingdom, and especially in England and 
Wales, has become far greater than formerly, but no one can doubt 
that the number of Herons has dwindled. Mr. Harting gave, in 
1872 (Zoologist, s.s. pp. 3261-3272 ; with additions and corrections, 
pp. 3404-3407), a list of those existing in the three kingdoms, 
more than 200 in number, of which a little over one-half are in 
England and Wales, more than 50 in Scotland, and nearly 50 in 
Ireland. The sites chosen by the Heron for its nest vary greatly. 
It is generally built in the top of a lofty tree, but not unfrequently 
(and this seems to have been much more usual in former days) 
near or on the ground among rough vegetation, on an island in a 
lake, or again on a rocky cliff of the coast. It commonly consists 
of a huge mass of sticks, often the accumulation of years, lined 
with twigs, and in it are laid from four to six sea-green eggs. | The 
young are clothed in soft flax-coloured down, and remain in the 
nest (NrprcoL#) for a considerable time, therein differing remark- 
ably from the “pipers” of the Crane, which are able to run almost 
as soon as they are 
ee 
hatched. The first = : 
a SS 
feathers assumed by ao eras 
young Herons in a ee ee 
general way resemble 
those of the adult, 
but the fine leaden-grey back, the pure white breast, the black 
throat-streaks, and especially the long pendent plumes, which char- 
acterize only the very old birds, and are most beautiful in the cocks, 
are subsequently acquired. The Heron measures about 3 feet from 
the bill to the tail, and the expanse of its wings is sometimes not 
less than 6 feet, yet it weighs only between 3 and 4 Ib, 
Large as is the common Heron of Europe, it is exceeded in size 
by the Great Blue Heron of America, Ardea herodias, which 
generally resembles it in appearance and habits, and both are 
smaller than the 4. sumatrana or A. typhon of India and the Malay 
Archipelago, while the A. goliath, of wide distribution in Africa and 
Asia, is the largest of all. The Purple Heron, 4. purpurea, as a 
well-known European species having a great range over the Old 
World, also deserves mention here. Of the species included in 
Schlegel’s second section, little need now be said. They inhabit 
the tropical parts of Africa, Australia and America. The Egrets, 
Bitt or Heron. (After Swainson.) 
