344 THE HERON 



been mistaken for reed-stalks." l No sooner, however, did he realise 

 that his disguise was pierced, than he at once assumed the offensive 

 and stood "at bay." The wings were now drooped, and the body 

 lowered into a crouching position, while the feathers were set on end 

 to give an appearance of ferocity which was by no means wanting, for 

 every now and then he would suddenly strike upwards with his 

 pointed beak with terrible suddenness : the whole force of the 

 suddenly upspringing body being behind the stroke. The blow 

 delivered, he crouched again for another spring. And in this heaving 

 up and down, Miss Turner remarks, he recalled the behaviour of the 

 young cuckoo under like circumstances. 



The bittern's use of its bill for offensive purposes was noted by 

 Yarrell. " It will," he writes, " strike at dog and man ; and some care 

 is necessary, when about to handle one, to avoid a blow from the point 

 of its sharp beak. If a dog advances upon one that is not entirely 

 disabled, the bird throws itself on its back, like a hawk, and fights 

 with its claws as well as with its bill ; and, owing to the length to 

 which the drawn in neck can suddenly be extended, approach is often 

 attended with danger to the incautious." 



When the young bird found by Miss Turner was actually handled 

 and afterwards released, he gave vent to curious "bubbling" sounds, 

 such as may readily be produced by blowing through a straw into a glass 

 of water, and these seem to be peculiar to the nestling period of life. 



Miss Turner's observations seem to show that the work of pro- 

 viding for the young is shared by both parents. As she saw no food 

 carried by the parents she infers that the young are fed on regurgitated 

 food. If so, the fish is presumably carried in the gullet and passed to 

 the young without pre-digestion, for a nestling taken in Holland by 

 Mr. E. W. Wade, when handled, " threw up a fish a quarter of its own 

 size, with the head only half digested." 2 



1 British Birds [magazine], vol. v. p. 95. 



1 Ibid., vol. i. p. 334. Mr. Kirknian, however, informs me that young gannets are frequently 

 fed on fish of which the heads have been half-digested in the stomach of the parents, as is 

 evident from the fact that the fish were seen to be disgorged by the young head first. 



