HERON 



2785 



HERRICK 



erately sized wings. Their four toes are on the 

 same level, three in front and one behind. 

 The tails are short, rounded and compressed. 

 Herons are able to strike heavy blows with 

 their powerful necks and strong beaks. Many 

 species have long, ornamental crests and hand- 

 some plumes on throat and body, especially 

 during breeding time. All have three pairs of 



HERONS 



At left, the great blue heron ; at right, the 

 snowy heron. 



peculiar feathers called "powder-down tracts," 

 whose purpose is not yet known. One pair of 

 these is on the breast, one on the rump and 

 one under the thighs. 



In flight, herons are not so handsome as on 

 land, for they stretch their long legs straight 

 out behind them and, unlike the cranes, curl 

 their heads between their shoulders. But at 

 a distance their flight seems majestic and is 

 quite as impressive as that of an eagle. Some 

 herons live in flocks, while others live singly 

 or in pairs. Their nests are loose, crude masses 

 of sticks, built in treetops or in bushes near 

 the place of feeding. From three to six eggs 

 are laid, which hatch into helpless, scrawny 

 little birds which must be fed for two or three 

 weeks before they are able to fly and shift 

 for themselves. 



Silent and alone the heron stalks along the 

 shores of streams with stately stride, looking 

 for things to eat; or, hour after hour, with 

 head drawn between the shoulders, statuelike 

 and apparently asleep, it stands, patiently 

 watching for fish, frogs or small reptiles. Once 

 175 



seen, however, its prey is caught with a light- 

 ning dart of graceful neck and spearlike bill. 

 The heron's only cry is a hollow squawk which 

 Longfellow mentions in Hiawatha as "a cry 

 of lamentation." Herons are ordinarily long- 

 lived birds and have been known to exist as 

 many as sixty years. 



American Herons. About twelve species of 

 heron are known in America. One of the most 

 common is the shy, fifty-inch great blue heron, 

 which nests as far north as Labrador, Hud- 

 son Bay and Alaska. It is often incorrectly 

 called a crane. A colony of this slaty-gray 

 species, the largest of herons, nested near 

 the home of Lowell, and Longfellow wrote 

 about them in his The Herons of Elmwood. 

 The little blue heron and snowy heron are bet- 

 ter known as egrets. The most abundant, as 

 well as the smallest, of American herons is the 

 sixteen- to eighteen-inch little green heron. 

 It is found from tropical America far into 

 Canada and is known by the boys as shitepoke, 

 or fly up the creek. The black-crowned night 

 heron is more fully described under NIGHT 

 HERON. See also BITTERN; STORK. M.S. 



Consult Newton's Dictionary of Birds; Biolog- 

 ical Survey Bulletin 45, of the United States De- 

 partment of the Interior. 



HERRERA, erra'rah, FRANCISCO, the name 

 of two distinguished Spanish painters who were 

 born in Seville. The father (1576-1656), sur- 

 named el Viejo (the Elder), is regarded as 

 the founder of a new national school of paint- 

 ing. His Last Judgment is a masterpiece of 

 design and coloring. In addition to historical 

 pieces, he displayed skill in fresco painting 

 and in bronze work. Some of his best works 

 are now in the Louvre at Paris. 



His youngest son (1622-1685), surnamed 

 el Mozo (the Younger), became celebrated for 

 pictures of still life, especially for fish pieces. 

 He was painter for Philip IV of Spain and 

 superintendent of the royal buildings. His 

 best known works are a fresco, The Ascension, 

 now in the Atocha Church in Madrid, and San 

 Francisco, in the Seville Cathedral. 



HERRICK, ROBERT (1591-1674), an English 

 poet, born in London and educated at . Cam- 

 bridge. In 1629 he accepted the vicarship of 

 Dean Prior, Devonshire, but he espoused the 

 cause of the king, Charles I, and opposed the 

 growing Puritan power, so his royalist prin- 

 ciples lost him his post in 1647. He then went 

 to London, where he published Hesperides and 

 Noble Numbers. In 1662, after the Restora- 

 tion, he was reinstated in his old living, where 



