THE HERONS, BITTERNS, AND STORKS. 223 



gannet in various stages of plumage, expresses the doubt 

 of this bird being able to rise from flat ground unless 

 assisted by a high wind. I have also noticed something 

 of the kind ; but I came upon three of these birds, or 

 rather of the closely allied Australian species, feeding one 

 still evening in Middle Harbour, Port Jackson, and flying 

 with ease from one flat " beach " to another. Like all 

 waterfowl, the gannets and cormorants cannot rise from 

 the water except head to wind. The nest is of grass and 

 seaweed. Egg, i, 3^ inchec; bluish, with a whitish 

 coating of chalky matter, which soon soils. 



CHAPTER VI. THE HERONS, BITTERNS, 

 AND STORKS. 



[The characters of the present order are long bill, neck, 

 and legs, and the curious comb-like edge of the middle toe. 

 The herons have twelve feathers, the bitterns only ten. 

 All of these birds feed on fish, also on small mammals, 

 reptiles, and even crustaceans, molluscs, and insects. They 

 are for the most part but rare stragglers to these islands, 

 though the bittern has only become so of late years, thanks 

 to the reclaiming of marshland, as it bred and " boomed " 

 among the fens and broads up to within a quarter of a 

 century ago. One resident; thirteen irregular visitors.] 



i. HERONS. 



Though the water-bailiff and collector are doing their 

 best to thin the ranks of the grand and stately Heron, it 



Heron * S st *^' es P ec i a ^ v ^ ar ^ rom ^ e haunts of man, 



a familiar figure to fellow - anglers ; and it 



requires no more than ordinary caution to watch the 



