446 



The Living Animals of the World 



for food for their young during the daytime. They breed in colonies, in bushes or low trees 

 in the neighbourhood of swamps. In some places they are protected as, for instance, round 

 the Great Honam Temple at Canton, where these birds are held sacred. 



Colonel Swinhoe, says Mr. Howard Saunders, describes the nests "as placed thickly in 

 some venerable banyans, the granite slabs that form the pavement beneath the trees being 

 bedaubed with the droppings of old and young, while from the nests arose the chattering cry 

 of the callow broods, for which the parent birds were catering the whole day long, becoming 

 more active at sunset. As darkness set in, the noise and hubbub from the trees rose to a 

 fearful pitch." 



In Hungary large numbers of herons and egrets breed together in the marshes, egrets 

 and night-herons breeding together with the common and purple herons. Landbeck, an 

 enthusiastic ornithologist, writes of such heronries : " The clamour in these breeding-places is 

 so tremendous and singular in its character as almost to defy description ; it must be heard 



before a person can form any idea of what 

 it is like. At a distance these hideous 

 noises blend with a confused roar, so as in 

 some way to resemble the hubbub caused 

 by a party of drunken Hungarian peasants ; 

 and it is only on a nearer approach the 

 separate notes of the two species, the common 

 and the night-heron, can be distinguished 

 -namely, ' craik ' and ' quack,' to which 

 the notes of the young, ' zek-zek-zek,' . . . 

 in different keys, serve as an accompani- 

 ment. When close to, the noise is tremen- 

 dous and the stench unbearable. This. 

 together with the sight of dozens of young 

 herons in every stage of putrefaction and 

 teeming with maggots, is perfectly sicken- 

 ing, though the contemplation of life and 

 movement in this immense heronry is a 

 matter of interest to the true ornithologist. 

 [Regent's Park. The tops of the highest trees are 

 usually occupied by the nests of the common 

 heron ; a little lower down is the habitation 

 of the shy and beautiful GREAT EGRET, while 



in the forks of the lowest branches the night-heron takes up her abode. All these species 

 build in one and the same tree, the nests numbering not infrequently as many as fifteen in a 

 single tree, and yet peace invariably reigns amongst all these varieties. High over the trees 

 appears the common heron, laden with booty, announcing his arrival with a hoarse ' craaich,' 

 when, changing his note to a goose-like 'da-da-da-da,' he either jerks the provender down the 

 throats of the ever-hungry youngsters or throws it up before them, when the fish are greedily 

 swallowed, amid a desperate accompaniment of ' gohe-e-e-e, gohe-e-e-e,' a sound much resembling 

 the frantic cry of a calf which is being lifted into a farmer's market-cart. The conduct of the 

 more cautious egret is very different. Circling far above the nest, she first satisfies herself 

 that no foe is hidden below before she alights among her family, which are much quieter and 

 less hasty than their cousins. The night-herons, on the contrary, approach their nests from all 

 sides, high and low, their crops filled with frogs, fish, and insects. A deep ' quak ' or 

 'gowek' announces the arrival of the old bird already from some distance, to which the young 

 answer, while feeding, with a note resembling ' queht, queht,' or ' quehaoaheh, quehoehah. As 

 soon as the parents have taken their departure the youngsters recommence their concert, and 

 from every nest uninterrupted cries of ' tzik, tzik, tzik, tzek-tzek, tzek,' and ' gett, gett-gett,' are 



f hoto by W. P. Dando, *\Z.S.] 



BUFF-BACKED HERON. 

 This bird habitually picks insects from the backs of cattle. 



