HERON 223 



Heron 

 Ardea cinerea. 



Crest bluish black ; upper parts slate-grey ; forehead, cheeks, 

 and neck white, the latter streaked with bluish grey and termi- 

 nating in long white feathers ; under parts greyish white ; bill 

 yellow. Length, thirty-six inches. 



The heron is sometimes spoken of as our largest wild bird. It is 

 not meant that he is really larger than the golden eagle, or wild 

 swan, or grey lag goose, but only that he is the biggest of the com- 

 paratively common birds. The heron has two very different aspects 

 when in repose, or standing, and when on the wing. On the 

 ground, or, as we more often see him, standing knee-deep in the 

 water, watching the surface, he presents a sorry appearance a 

 bird lean and ungraceful in figure, white and ghostly grey in colour, 

 awkward in his motions when he moves. No sooner does he 

 open his wings than this mean aspect vanishes, and he is trans- 

 figured. At first the flight appears heavy on account of the slow* 

 measured beats of the broad, rounded vans ; but as he rises higher, 

 and soars away to a distance, it strikes the beholder as wonderfully 

 free and powerful. The appearance of the bird ia then majestic, 

 and its flight more beautiful than that of any other large wading 

 bird with which I am acquainted ibis, wood-ibis, stork, flamingo, 

 or spoonbill. When pursued by a falcon the heron is capable of 

 rising vertically to a vast height, while the hawk rushes after in a 

 zigzag course, striving to rise above his quarry so as to strike. 

 This aerial contest of hawk and heron forms a very fascinating 

 spectacle, and formerly, when falcons were trained for this sport, 

 the heron was as much esteemed as the pheasant which has been 

 called the ' sacred bird ' is at the present day. With the decline 

 of falconry the heron ceased to be protected by law, and diminished 

 greatly in numbers ; but he is an historical bird, and there is a feel- 

 ing, or sentiment, that has served to prevent his extermination. It 

 is still considered a fine thing to have a heronry on a large estate ; 

 and so long as this feeling endures the bird will receive sufficient 

 protection, although the existing heronries, when we come to count 

 them, are not many. 



The heron breeds in communities, and when the heronry is 



