THE HERON. 339 



points resemble the second and third genus, namely, 

 Storks and Cranes, that they may be all looked upon as 

 forming one family. With the Heron, however, we are 

 most familiar, as he alone stays with us all the year 



Serrated Claw of the Heron. 



round; and he may be often seen standing like a grey 

 statue, motionless on one leg, up to his knees in water, 

 in some retired spot, watching for fish, the very picture 

 of patience. Impatient would he nevertheless be, if 

 long unsuccessful, for he has a most prodigious appetite, 

 destroying an inconceivable number of fish, which are 

 digested almost as soon as swallowed. The powers of 

 its stomach are indeed very great, surpassing those of 

 most other birds; Owls, Crows, and Kingfishers, we know 

 are unable to digest the harder portions of their food, 

 sncli as bones, &c., which are thrown up in pellets; but 

 in the Heron's stomach they are easily dissolved. So 

 rapid indeed is their digestion, that ignorant people have 

 exaggerated facts, and given marvellous accounts of the 

 feeding habits of this bird. For instance, the people of 

 the Ferroe Islands have a notion of the internal economy 

 of the Heron's stomach which truth will not quite war- 

 rant, though the principle on which it is founded is 

 correct. They imagine that it has only one large gut, 

 white as silver, which proceeds through its whole body, 

 and that as soon as it catches and swallows a fish, " it is 

 under the necessity of placing its rump against a hillock 

 or stone, to prevent the fish from getting out again; and 

 that it stands in that position until it has been digested*/' 

 They have also such a respect for its fishing powers, that 

 they believe a Heron's foot, carried in the pocket, will 

 ensure success. 



* LAXDT'S Travels, p. 244. 



Z 2 



