314 LETTER XLIX. 



The heron is said to be a very long-lived bird. Mr. 

 Keyster asserts, that it lives to the age of sixty years; 

 and a recent instance which occurred in Holland, 

 confirms this account of its longevity. A heron was 

 found in that country which had a silver plate fasten- 

 ed to its leg, with an inscription, importing that it had 

 been struck by the Elector of Cologne's hawk thirty- 

 five years before. 



THE BITTERN 



is a bird of the heron kind, distinguished by the dis- 

 mal hollow sound which it emits, and whkh resem- 

 bles the interrupted bellowings of a bull, but is much 

 louder, and heard at a greater distance. 



The bittern is of a pale yellow cdlour, spotted and 

 barred with black. It lays seven or eight eggs of an 

 -ash-green, colour, and in three days after hatching 

 leads its young ones out to their food. The flesh of 

 this bird is esteemed a great dainty. 



THE STORK. 



Tsears so great a resemblance to the crane, that it is 

 no wonder that oae should often be mistaken for the 

 other. Their conformation, indeed, appears to be 



exactly the same, the difference consists in the colour, 

 disposition and habits. The colours of the crane are 

 cinereous and black, those of the stork white and 

 brown. The voice of the former is loud and piercing, 

 while the latter is always silent. The former prefer,-? 

 grain to every other aliment, the latter lives wholly 

 on frogs, serpents, small birds and fish. And while 

 the crane delights to conceal itself far from the habi- 

 tations of men, the stork generally fixes its residence 



near the most populous places. 



Storks, like cranes, are migratory, but, as they al- 

 ways travel by night, their flight is concealed. When 

 they leave Europe they all assemble on a certain day, 

 and not one of the party is ever left behind. They 

 generally make their appearance in this part of the 

 globe about the middle of March, and build their 

 nests on the tops of chimnies, or of high towers, pin- 

 nacles of lofty buildings, and sometimes on the tops 

 of high trees. The stork lays from two to four eggs, 



