408 ARDEID^E. 



In the month of March, Herons show a disposition to 

 congregate, and soon after repair to their old-established 

 breeding places called Heronries. These are generally 

 lofty trees, firs or deciduous trees in parks, or even in 

 groves close by old family mansions. One at Kilmorey, by 

 Loch Gilphead, has long been frequented, though within a 

 hundred yards of the house. The nests, huge masses of 

 sticks, a yard across, lined with a little grass, and other 

 soft materials, are placed near each other, as many, some- 

 times, as a hundred in a colony,* or, more rarely, they are 

 placed among ivy-clad rocks, ruins, or even on the ground. 

 Each nest contains four or five eggs, on which the female 

 sits about three weeks, constantly fed by her partner 

 during the whole period of incubation. The power of 

 running would be of little use to a young bird hatched at 

 an elevation of fifty feet from the ground ; the young 

 Herons are consequently helpless till they are sufficiently 

 fledged to perch on the branches of the trees, where they 

 are fed by their parents, who themselves perch with the 

 facility of the rook. Indeed, the favourite position of these 

 birds, both old and young, is, during a considerable por- 

 tion of the day, on the upper branches of a lofty tree, 

 whither, also, they often repair with a booty too large to be 

 swallowed at once. 



By a statute of Henry VIII. the taking of Herons in 

 any other way than by hawking, or the long bow, was 

 prohibited on a penalty of half a mark ; and the theft of 

 a young bird from the nest was visited with a penalty of 

 ten shillings. 



Not to be acquainted with the noble art of Falconry 

 was deemed degrading ; so that the saying, " He does not 

 know a Hawk from a Heronshaw," was a common expres- 

 sion of contempt, now corrupted into the proverb, " He 

 does not know a Hawk from a handsaw." 



* Pennant counted eighty in one tree. 



