THE HERON AND ITS HAUNTS 9 



with neck stretched out and bill a little open, ready 

 for anything. Now and then it looks as if a squabble 

 were going on, as some one heron, more fortunate than 

 another, gets a better find ; of course, the one next to 

 him wants to share it, and then ensue sundry flappings 

 of wings and extraordinary dancing movements. 

 One or two rise and drop down again a few yards 

 away to continue their search. What they feed on 

 could only be found out by first shooting one, and 

 then examining the contents of his stomach. Scores 

 of birds of all sorts are shot, skinned, and stuffed, and 

 their bodies eaten, but in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred the stomach is never inspected. It is very 

 convenient to say this bird, or that small animal, feeds 

 almost exclusively on such and such a diet, but that 

 proves nothing : you can only really tell what a 

 creature feeds on, as the seasons vary, by the contents 

 of its stomach. 



I will give a few of the favourite morsels of the 

 heron. Eels, being a standing dish with him, must 

 come first : after these the young of land and 

 water birds, water rats, mice, frogs, fish of all sorts, 

 shrimps, and small crabs. And if any little bunny 

 happened to be dotting round a mole-hill having 

 come out of the burrow for the first time just to see 

 how large the world was when the heron was gliding 



