560 



A HISTORY OF 



At present, however, the defects of the ill- 

 judged policy of our ancestors, is felt by their 

 posterity; for, as the amusement of hawking 

 has given place to the more useful method of 

 stocking fish-ponds, the heron is now become 

 a most formidable enemy. Of all other birds, 

 this commits the greatest devastation in fresh 

 waters; and there is scarce a fish, though 

 never so large, that he will not strike at and 

 wound, though unable to carry it away. But 

 the smaller fry are his chief subsistence; 

 these, pursued by their larger fellows of the 

 deep, are obliged to take refuge in shallow 

 waters, where they find the heron a still more 

 formidable enemy. His method is to wade 

 as far as he can go into the water, and there 

 patiently wait the approach of his prey, which, 

 when it comes within sight, he darts upon 

 with inevitable aim. In this manner he is 

 found to destroy more in a week than an ot- 

 ter in three months. "I have seen a heron," 

 says Willoughby, " that had been shot, that 

 had seventeen carps in his belly at once, 

 which he will digest in six or seven hours, 

 and then to fishing again. I have seen a carp," 

 continues he, " taken out of a heron's belly, 

 nine inches and a half long. Several gentle- 

 men who kept tame herons, to try what 

 quantity one of them would eat in a day, have 

 put several smaller roach and dace in a tub; 

 and they have found him eat fifty in a day, 

 one day with another. In this manner a sin- 

 gle heron will destroy fifteen thousand carp 

 in half a year. 



So great are the digestive powers of this 

 fresh-water tyrant,and so detrimental to those 

 who stock ponds with fish. In general, he is 

 seen taking his gloomy stand by the lake's 

 side, as if meditating mischief, motionless, 

 and gorged with plunder. His usual attitude 

 on this occasion is to sink his long neck be- 

 tween his shoulders, and keep his head turn- 

 ed on one side, as if eyeing the pool more 

 intently. When the call of hunger returns, 

 the toil of an hour or two is generally suffi- 

 cient to fill his capacious stomach ; and he 

 retires long before night to his retreat in the 

 woods. Early in the morning, however, he 

 is seen assiduous at his usual occupation. 



But, though in seasons of fine weather the 

 heron can always find a plentiful supply ; in 

 cold or stormy seasons, his prey is no longer 



within reach : the fish that before came into 

 the shallow water, now keep in the deep; as 

 they find it to be the warmest situation. 

 Frogs and lizards also seldom venture from 

 their lurking places; and the heron is obli- 

 ged to support himself upon his long habits 

 of patience, and even to take up with the 

 weeds that grow upon the water. At those 

 times he contracts a consumptive disposition, 

 which succeeding plenty is not able to re- 

 move ; so that the meagre glutton spends his 

 time between want and riot, and feels alter- 

 nately the extremes of famine and excess. 

 Hence, notwithstanding the care with which 

 he takes his prey, and the amazing quantity 

 he devours, the heron is always lean and ema- 

 ciated ; and though his crop be usually found 

 full, yet his flesh is scarcely sufficient to cover 

 the bones. 



The heron usually takes his prey by wa- 

 ding into the water; yet it must not be sup- 

 posed that he does not also take it upon the 

 wing. In fact, much of his fishing is perform- 

 ed in this manner; but he never hovers over 

 deep waters, as there his prey is enabled to 

 escape him by sinking to the bottom. In 

 shallow places he darts with more certainty ; 

 for though the fish at sight of its enemy in- 

 stantly descends, yet the heron, with his long 

 bill and legs, instantly pins it to the bottom, 

 and thus seizes it securely. In this manner, 

 after having been seen with his long neck for 

 above a minute under water, he rises upon 

 the wing, with a trout or an eel struggling in 

 his bill to get free. The greedy bird, how- 

 ever, flies to the shore, scarcely gives it time 

 to expire, but swallows it whole, and then 

 returns to fishing as before. 



As this bird does incredible mischief to 

 ponds newly stocked, Willoughby has given 

 a receipt for taking him. " Having found his 

 haunt, get three or four small roach or dace, 

 and having provided a strong hook with a 

 wire to it, this is drawn just within-side the 

 skin of the fish, beginning without-side the 

 gills, and running it to the tail, by which the 

 fish will not be killed, but continue for five or 

 six days alive. Then having a strong line 

 made of silk and wire, about two yards and 

 a half long, it is tied to a stone at one end, 

 the fish with the hook being suffered to swim 

 about at the other. This being properly dis- 



