THE HERON. 265 



A pinch, a toss of the head, and it had disappeared 

 down his throat. He then drew himself together 

 with apparent satisfaction, wiped his bill upon his 

 long breast plumes, and slightly altering his position, 

 prepared, as an angler would say, to make another 

 " cast." At this moment we incautiously moved a 

 little to one side to avoid a willow bough and obtain 

 a better view, when his quick eye instantly detected 

 the movement, and in another second he was flying 

 down the water in the direction whence he had 

 come. 



There are few sights more gratifying to a natu- 

 ralist than a heronry. We have had the privilege 

 of visiting several one at Walton Hall, Yorkshire, 

 the seat of the late Charles W T aterton ; another at 

 Milton, near Peterborough, belonging to the Hon. 

 G. Fitzwilliam ; a third at Parham Park, Sussex, 

 the seat of Lord Zouch ; and a fourth at Wan- 

 stead Park, the property of Lord Cowley. 1 Did 

 space permit, we might give an interesting account 



1 Some years ago an attempt was made to ascertain the number 

 of heronries existing in the British Islands, when it appeared, con- 

 trary to expectation, that there were at least 200 in different parts 

 of the country. A list of these, first printed in The Field, was after- 

 wards republished with additions in The Zoologist for 1872. , 



