COMMON HERON. 



539 



about twenty-eight days. When the young are hatched, 

 both parents assist in providing them with food until they 

 are able to fly, and have learned to supply themselves. 

 Previous to this time, when the heronry is visited by 

 strangers, the old birds leave their nests, and skimming in 

 circles, high above the trees, betray great anxiety till the 

 party have retired. The food of the Heron consists of 

 fish, reptiles, and small mammalia. When the Heron has 

 only himself to provide for, he usually fishes late in the 

 evening, and very early in the morning, sitting the whole 

 day perched on the branch of a large tree. 



I am indebted to the kindness of the late Rev. W. 

 Alderson, of Ashton, near Sheffield, for the use of a clever 

 drawing, from which the vignette below was taken. A 

 Heron was seen one evening going to a piece of water to 

 feed ; the spot was visited the next morning, when it was 

 discovered that the Heron had struck its sharp beak through 

 the head of an eel, piercing both eyes ; the eel thus held 

 had coiled itself so tightly round the neck of the Heron 

 as to stop the bird's respiration, and both were dead. 



