26 AT A HERONRY NEAR LONDON 
their spreading branches afford a good posi- 
tion for their flat nests and they also here get 
a good foothold, as they have not a little 
difficulty in alighting on trees. _As we came 
up, and were still even a hundred yards away, 
the sitting birds all rose and flew away. Every 
one of the other birds left too, some quickly, 
others deliberately. I could not distinguish 
the males from the females. After focussing, 
concealed as well as I could without any 
special facilities, I waited some ten minutes, 
when a few returned to their nests cautiously, 
others kept coming back but not venturing 
to alight. I took a photograph of some of 
the nests with a one second exposure at /'/32, 
using a quick plate, and longed for a lens that 
would give a larger object. Two birds areseen 
in Plate III (which is an _ enlargement) 
standing on the nest, well outlined against the 
sky, the only position in which it was worth 
taking a photograph of the birds, otherwise 
the confusion of the surrounding branches, 
and twigs made an all but useless picture. 
The flight of the heron is slow, and the 
