Y0l iS in ] Cameron, Nesting of Great Blue Heron. 261 



their nests as near the water as possible which is not the case in 

 Scotland. There are no less than three heronries near the resi- 

 dence of my brother in North Argyll where herons are exceedingly 

 numerous and resident all the year round. He has had unusual 

 opportunities for observing them and has sent me some most inter- 

 esting notes. He says: "Our herons undoubtedly prefer to build 

 in conifers, always choosing open situations, generally on high 

 ground, and in associations varying from two or three nests to 

 twenty or thirty together." 



The second largest heronry within his knowledge "is in very 

 old and very tall larches, high up on the face of a mountain which 

 forms one side of a deep and luxuriantly wooded glen. Here the 

 herons have selected the larch in preference to equally suitable 

 pines at a lower elevation and nearer the mouth of the glen, but, 

 possibly, the immediate proximity to the pines of a populous rookery 

 may have had something to do with the choice. The larch, though 

 deciduous in foliage, is the earliest tree to sprout in spring, and 

 becomes handsomely feathered with green shoots before the herons 

 are seriously occupied with family cares." Herons in Argyllshire 

 pair very early in spring, and my brother has observed young birds 

 hatched out on April 25. He has supplied me with the following 

 account of another heronry in marked contrast to the haunt just 

 described. "A heronry on my brother-in-law's estate in the Island 

 of Jura occupies a deep cup in the bed of a mountain torrent, at 

 the base of a high waterfall which has evidently in the course of 

 ages hallowed out the cup. The nests are here placed on low, 

 scrubby bushes of birch and goat willow, only a few feet from the 

 ground, and easily accessible from the bed of the burn. The sides 

 of the cup are so steep and deep that a person standing on the brink 

 can look down upon the herons nesting below, and splendid obser- 

 vations could be taken but for the difficulty of suitable accommoda- 

 tion on the ground. Above the heronry, at no great distance, is a 

 chain of lakes full of excellent trout, and round about are large 

 herds of wild red deer — this romantic spot being in the heart of 

 the Jura deer-forest." 



Though I have never known it to be fired at with any kind of 

 weapon the Great Blue Heron is an extremely shy bird and seems by 

 some instinctive process thoroughly to gauge the killing range of 



