810 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



and any small mammals it can get, a water-rat being a special 

 bonne bouche; but in confinement it is not so particular, 

 feeding greedily even on vegetable matter. In a hard winter 

 it betakes itself to tlie sea- coast, the mouths of the rivers, 

 and the salt-marshes. If wounded, it must be approached 

 with caution, for it will aim its spear-like bill straight at the 

 face of anyone stooping to pick it up. I well remember, 

 many years ago, a man who had his nose nearly split in two 

 by a Heron, and it will attack a dog with equal ferocity. If 

 a heronry be near a rookery, there is generally constant 

 warfare between the Heron and the Rook, the latter carrying 

 ofp, if it can, the sticks from the nest of the former, with 

 which to build its own. Notwithstanding these thievish 

 propensities of the Rook, the two birds occasionally breed 

 even on the same tree. In this county, the Heron always 

 breeds in trees, but in some districts it places its nest on the 

 ledges of high clifiFs, and even on the ground. When the 

 Heron leaves its abode in search of food, which is at dusk, it 

 frequently flies so high that, were it not for its harsh voice, 

 it would often pass unnoticed. It returns to the heronry 

 about two o^clock a.m. In ' Sussex Archccological Col- 

 lections ^ (vol. xxvii. p. 113) it is noted that a keeper at 

 Parham, being asked whether it was true that the Heron, at 

 pairing time, made strange noises, replied, " Yes, frightful ! 

 Unless you heard them you would never believe it. Some 

 years ago a rabbiter [sic) , going one night to set his traps, 

 was terribly scared. He thought he heard a woman 

 murdering a child ; the cries and shrieks were fearful. He 

 was so frightened that he ran off and cried ' Murder ! ' 

 People came to see. He forgot his traps and lost them.^^ 

 There is no proof, however, that the terrible sounds pro- 

 ceeded from the Herons. These birds breed in company. 

 Mr. Knox, who gives a most interesting account of his visit 

 to the Heronry at Parham (O. R. p. 24), thus describes a 



