THE HERON. 



183 



of wing, which is five feet from tip to tip. Its 

 bill is very long, being five inches from the 

 point to the base ; its claws are long, sharp, 

 and the middlemost toothed like a saw. Yet, 

 thus armed as it appears for war, it is indo- 

 lent and cowardly, and even flies at the ap- 

 proach of a sparrow-hawk. It was once the 

 amusement of the great to pursue this timor- 

 ous creature with the falcon : and heron-hawk- 

 ing was so favourite a diversion among our 

 ancestors, that laws were enacted for the pre- 

 servation of the species ; and the person who 

 destroyed their eggs was liable to a penalty 

 of twenty shillings for each offence. 



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 formid- 

 able 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 inevit- 

 able aim. In this manner he is found to des- 

 troy more in a week than an otter in three 

 months. " I have seen a heron," says Wil- 

 loughby, " that had been shot, that had seven- 

 teen carps in its belly at once, which he will 

 digest in six or seven hours, and then to fish- 

 ing again. I have seen a carp," continues 

 he, " taken out of a heron's belly, nine inches 

 and a half long. Several gentlemen 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 single 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 turned 

 on one side, as if eyeing the pool more in- 

 tently. When the call of hunger returns, the 

 toil of an hour or two is generally sufficient 

 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 obliged to 

 support himself upon his long habits of pa- 

 tience, 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 remove ; so 

 that the meagre glutton spends his time be- 

 tween want and riot, and feels alternately the 

 extremes of famine and excess. Hence, not- 

 withstanding the care with which he takes 

 his prey, and the amazing quantity he devours, 

 the heron is always lean and emaciated ; 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 wading 

 into the water ; yet it must not be supposed 

 that he does not also take it upon the wing. 

 In fact, much of his fishing is performed 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 instantly 

 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 hav- 

 ing 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, however, 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- 

 posed in shallow water, the heron will seize 

 upon the fish to its own destruction. From 

 this method we may learn, that the fish must 

 be alive, otherwise the heron will riot touch 

 them, and that this bird, as well as all those 

 that feed upon fish, must be its own caterer ; 

 for they will riot prey upon such as die natu- 

 rally, or are killed by others before them." 



