HERON. 



735 



over the spot, to see what is going on. When the 

 young are able, they climb to the highest part of the 

 trees ; but, knowing their inability, they do not at- 

 tempt to fly. Though it is probable that these noc- 

 turnal birds do not see well during the day, yet their 

 faculty of hearing must be exquisite, as it is almost 

 impossible, with all the precautions one can use, to 

 penetrate near their residence without being disco- 

 vered. Several species of hawks hover around, mak- 

 ing an occasional sweep among the young ; and the 

 bald eagle himself has been seen reconnoitring near 

 die spot, probably with the same design." 



Sucii is the description of the manners of these 

 birds, by perhaps the most observant and felicitous 

 describer that ever lived ; and it unquestionably 

 points to habits very different from those mentioned 

 even by what are considered the most accurate of 

 European naturalists. Still, it by no means follows, 

 from this difference of the nesting-place, that the night 

 heron of America, and that of Europe, are different 

 species, or even different varieties. Particular nesting- 

 places are not the grand inducements which birds 

 have to resort to certain places for the purpose of 

 breeding. Food for themselves and their brood is the 

 grand matter, to which every thing else must be sub- 

 servient. This being the case, it follows as matter of 

 course, that the birds must build in such accommoda- 

 tion as the locality which abounds in food affords 

 them. If there are no trees in or sufficiently near the 

 marshes, of course they cannot build in trees, how- 

 ever strong that instinct might be if there were the 

 means of gratifying it. We believe that there is no 

 wild duck, breeding in any part of the eastern conti- 

 nent, which places its nest any where except under a 

 bush, or more frequently in a close tuft of aquatic 

 plants ; but there are many of the American species, 

 breeding far to the north, which are known to breed 

 habitually in the short bushy trees with which the 

 northern marshes of America abound ; and so much 

 has this style of building become part of the general 

 instinct of the birds, that some which were kept at 

 the London Zoological Gardens, would not breed 

 until posts were erected, with boxes on the top, as 

 substitutes for the trees. Even in what is mentioned 

 by Tennninck, there is a sort of evidence that the 

 night herons of the East would breed in trees if they 

 could find such to breed in ; for he remarks, that they 

 breed under or in bushes, and rarely in tufts of rushes. 

 Why the nest, in such situations, may be in many 

 cases on the ground under the bush, is easily ex- 

 plained ; for the bushes which grow on the margins 

 of such marshes as afford no trees, are generally so 

 weak and pliant that they could not support the nest 

 of a heavy bird ; and we know of no instance in 

 which a bird places her nest so as that the weight of 

 herself and her eggs would bring it down. 



The remarkable difference between the breeding- 

 places of apparently the very same species of birds, 

 in the same continent, is a matter which ought to 

 teach us a little caution as to w hat circumstances we 

 are to consider as essential portions of the character 

 of a bird, and what are to be regarded only as local 

 or accidental, and, as such, admit of change with change 

 of locality. It is very probable that the positions of 

 nests, and the materials of which they are formed, 

 have been by far too much regarded as constant 

 characters of birds ; and therefore it would be very 

 desirable to know how any one species manages mat- 

 ters in these respects in countries affording very dif- 



ferent situations and materials, before we come to any 

 positive conclusion on the subject. In this respect, 

 the case of the night herons is a very important one ; 

 and this is the reason why we have gone into it at so 

 much length, and we shall now give some account of 

 the appearance of the bird. 



In doing this, we may remark, that there is a very 

 considerable difference in size between the night heron 

 as it occurs on the eastern continent, and as it occurs 

 hi America ; and that there are some differences in 

 this respect in different parts of the eastern continent. 

 Twenty-two inches is the usual length in Europe, 

 and twenty-four inches the usual length in India, 

 where the bird is by no means rare. In America the 

 length is twenty-eight inches, and the bulk of the 

 body and extent of the wings are large in proportion, 

 the latter measuring four feet from tip to tip. 



This difference of size shows pretty clearly in what 

 country the bird is most at home. America is de- 

 cidedly the most favourable to it, and India is more 

 favourable than Europe. Therefore, whatever habits 

 the bird may have in America are justly to be 

 regarded as its natural habits ; and as one of the 

 natural habits in America is to breed in trees, and 

 collect in large societies in the same breeding-place, 

 we may very safely conclude that this is the natural 

 habit of the bird ; and that where this habit is not 

 accommodated, the bird is in so far put out of its way, 

 and the result is, that it is dwarfed in its dimensions. 

 This point may be considered as demonstrated in the 

 case of the species in question ; and a little careful 

 observation in different places, and just comparison 

 founded on this observation, would render the same 

 principle applicable to any species of bird, or indeed 

 to any other living production of nature. This is of 

 far more value than any individual description, because 

 it leads us immediately to the connection that exists 

 between the living world and the rest of nature ; and 

 this is the most valuable instruction which natural 

 history can give us. 



The bill (in the American bird) is four inches and 

 a quarter in length, from the angle of the gape to the 

 point ; the naked space from the eye to the gape 

 bluish, and that round the eyes deep purple. The 

 eye is large, being three quarters of an inch in 

 diameter ; the iris bright pure red, and the pupil 

 black ; the legs and feet are pale yellowish cream- 

 colour, and the claw of the middle toe is toothed on 

 the inner side. The crest on the head and hind 

 head are deep blue, with green reflections, but the 

 forehead and a bar across the eye are white. Pen- 

 dent from the nape there are three very narrow and 

 tapering white feathers between eight and nine inches 

 long ; the webs of these are concave, or curled inwards 

 on their under sides, so that each embraces the one 

 below it ; and so difficult is it to derange the form of 

 this graceful crest, that even if these feathers are 

 ruffled in the skin of the dead bird, shaking them two 

 or three times will bring them into their natural posi- 

 tion. In consequence of this the three feathers 

 appear only as one, and the bird has the power of 

 erecting them when excited. The cheek, neck, and 

 lower parts are white, with a tinge of yellowish cream 

 colour, and with very pale ash-colour under the 

 wings. The back and scapulars are of the same rich 

 blue with green reflections to which we alluded as 

 occurring on the head. The rump, the tail and its 

 coverts, and the whole of the wings, are very pale 

 ash-colour. Thus attired, the night heron, notwith- 



