104! SHOOTING. 



was once held in high esteem at the tables of the greats and is still 

 highly prized by the real sportsman. 



The Heron {Ardea Major, Linn.). — There are few enthusiasts of 

 the gun Avho will not give themselves a good deal of trouble to have 

 a shot at the heron. He is, when on the wing, a noble looking 

 bird. The habits of this curious object of sport are very singular, 

 but seem admirably fitted by nature for the purposes it has in 

 view. Buffon calls it "a picture of wretchedness, anxiety, and 

 indigence, condemned to struggle perpetually with misery _ and 

 want, and sickened by the restless cravings of a famished appetite;" 

 but all this is mere delusion. The bird is just as happy as any 

 other bu'd is ; and it follows its instinctive habits and purposes 

 with the same unerring regularity which we every way see around 

 us, in every part of the feathered creation. Itis seen to stand for 

 hours fixed like a stake to a given spot — ^no evidence of life in it — 

 watching, Avith intense look and a fixity of purpose, for the rnoment 

 the trout or the miimow shall come within the range of its long 

 cranked neck. Its movements are among the wonders _ of this 

 class of fen-birds : they display so much artistic skill in then: 

 direction and ends. 



In Mr. Wood's edition of "White's Selborne," he sa}S, in a 

 note, " The heron or hem is stiU not uncommon in England, and 

 may be often seen near water. In the summer of this year, 1853, 

 while passing Canterbury on the South Eastern Railway, I saw 

 four herons standmg close on the banks of the Stour. They_ of 

 course took to flight as the train passed by, and were accompanied 

 by three magpies, which started from the same spot. The common 

 crow is very apt to attack the heron as it flies_ along. I have seen 

 an unfortunate heron passing by Lord Barrington's estate, near 

 Shrivenham, completely mobbed by crows, who continued their 

 annoyance until the birds were out of sight .... There are 

 upwards of thirty regularheromies in England . . . This bird 

 wiU carry away an amazing quantity of shot if fired at. I once 

 succeeded in surprismg a heron on the banks of the Isis, as it was 

 standing on one leg and watching the water. I was in a boat at 

 the time, having a gun imder a cushion for the benefit of the 

 water-fowl. The heron's v/ings looked so impenetrable, that before 

 firing I roused the bird, and caused it to open its "svin^s ready for 

 flight, when the entire charge came against its side with a sound 

 audible in the boat. The heron, however, flew off apparently 

 unconcerned, and continued its flight far over the fields with 

 undimmished strength."* 



The voracity of the heron is proverbial. It is sm^prisiug the 

 c(uantity of fish they will devour in twenty-four hours ; some young 

 birds have been known to consume fifty small roach in a day. 

 These birds make their nests of pieces of stick, Hued vt^ith wool 

 end feathers, and the female lays five or six eggs, of a pale green 



* Wood's Edition, Routledge and Co. Loudon, 1S54 



