C 94 ) 



THE 



HERON, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



^r^HE Heron may be diftinguifhed from the crane and dork, as well 

 X by being much lefs, as by irs bill, which is much longer in pro- 

 portion ; but efpecially by the middle claw on each foot being toothed 

 like a faw. 



Briflbn has enumerated not lefs then forty-feven forts, differing in fize, 

 figure, or plumage. In fadt, the kind is numerous, but of uniform man- 

 ners ; cowardly and rapacious, indolent, hungry, excelTively deftruclive 

 and voracious, yet ever of lean and carrion bodies. 



The common heron is remarkably light in proportion fo its bulk, 

 fcarce weighing four pounds ; yet, wings expanded, is five feet from tip 

 to tip. Its bill is very long, being five inches from the point to the 

 bafe ; its claws long, (harp, and the middlemofl toothed : thus armed, 

 yet indolent and cowardly, it flies at the approach of a fparrovv'-hawk. 

 Is very melancholy when taken old, and even refufes food ; but, if taken 

 young, may be domefticated. 



Of all birds, commits the greateft devaftation in frefh-waters ; fcarce 

 a filh, though ever fo large, that he will not ftrike at and wound, 

 if unable to carry it away. But the fmaller fry are his chief fub- 

 fiftence ; thefe, purfued by the larger filhes, take refuge in Ihallow waters, 

 where they find the heron a (till more formidable enemy. He wades 

 as far as he can into the water, and there patiently waits the approach 

 of his prey. " I have feen a heron," fays Willoughby, " fhor, that had f 

 feventeen carps in his belly ; thefe he will digeft in fix or {tvzn hours, : 

 and then to filhing again. I have feen a carp t;iken 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 

 feveral fmall roach and dace in a tub, and they have found him eat 

 fifty in a day, one day with another. In this manner a fingle heron will 

 deftroy fifteen thoufind carp in a fingle half year. 



In general, he is feen through a telcfcope, for he fuiters no approach, 

 but is very fhy j fixed in his gloomy folitary (land by the lake-fide 

 motionlefs ; his long neck ufually funk between his (boulders, his head 

 turned on one fide, as if eying the pool intently. Thus he (lands early 

 3nd late, and often fo (leady, that it fcems doubtful whether it is an ani- 

 mated 



