LLANDDWYN n 



more energy ; for, being there far from home, he is 

 regarded as an interloper, and if he perch upon the 

 weir, gulls and terns, awaiting like him the fall of the 

 tide, continue to harass him, hovering about and 

 swooping at him with their solemn "Ha! ha! ha!" 

 and shrill screams. But the Lesser Black-back, in 

 the absence of the Great Black-back, brings a fiercer 

 spirit to the fray ; and after being bombarded from 

 all angles, and writhing his long neck about to 

 present his spear-like bill to meet the varying 

 charge, the Heron ends by spreading his great 

 hollow, rounded wings, and with legs drawn up and 

 neck laid back between his shoulders, flaps low 

 along the water in search of some less contested 

 spot. 



But at Menai the heronry has its own weir, and 

 as the bird stalks along the gutters, intrusive gulls 

 and terns know better than to come within striking 

 range of the Heron at home. Here, when the tide 

 is up, the birds may be seen to the number of a 

 score or more perching for the most part outside the 

 foliage at the tree tops great white sentinels 

 standing bolt-upright on long thin legs. 



By clambering out on the larger island facing the 

 heronry, one may sit and watch at no great distance 

 these exclusive birds. " Fraak!" one will cry when 

 he descries you working your way out ; " fraak / " 

 as you seat yourself upon the utmost projecting snag 

 of rock ; but, seeing you seated and mud and water 

 barring off your nearer approach, he will desist from 

 further demonstration. 



I have known the Heron by land and sea a long 

 time, but improve my acquaintance with him but 



