258 Cameron, Nesting of Great Blue Heron. [july 



our approach, but it was subsequently found that they returned 

 here every evening to roost. Two dead, well feathered nestlings, 

 eggshells, and some dried up fish lay under the trees. That night 

 we rode to a ranch, about two miles off, for shelter, when the owner 

 told us that herons had bred on the island for many years, repairing 

 and adding to the old nests every spring. He said that formerly 

 there were about fifty nests, but that, some years since, a man had 

 cut logs on the island, thereby causing many birds to desert it. 

 Beyond this, the herons had met with little or no disturbance, as 

 scarcely anyone knew of the colony, which I could well believe. 

 We also learned that the heronry mentioned by Mr. Gifford had 

 been entirely deserted on account of tree-felling operations, shy 

 birds like herons having been unable to endure such invasion of 

 their sanctuary. As we sat on the veranda at dusk herons were 

 seen flying low across the meadow to the heronry; we computed 

 that both from here and the Powder River they sometimes go 

 twenty miles from home in their search for food. Although the 

 heron appears to fly so slowly it is in reality one of the swiftest of 

 birds, and Sir John Sebright referring to the chase of the common 

 Heron of Europe with Peregrines remarks: 



"The falconers place themselves in the open country, down wind 

 of the heronry, so that when the herons are intercepted on their 

 return home, they are obliged to fly against the wind to gain their 

 place of retreat. . . .When the heron flies down wind he is seldom 

 taken, the Hawks are in great danger of being lost, and, as the 

 flight is in a straight line, it affords but little sport." 1 



Of all birds a Peregrine is probably preeminent on the wing, 

 the speed attained by it being incredible. My brother has seen 

 both the Golden Eagle and the Peregrine (times out of number) 

 hawking game in Argyllshire, and in his opinion the Eagle, though 

 rapid, is visible comfortably to the eye, while the Peregrine passes 

 like a streak of lightning. Furthermore the quarry pursued by 

 the Eagle (a cock grouse), seemed to be travelling well within 

 himself, like a hare pursued by a lurcher. The same quarry pur- 

 sued by the Peregrine, on the other hand, goes "all out," and 

 attains a blind velocity like a bullet — instance, a Blackcock which 



1 Observations on Hawking. 



