THE CRANE RIND. 'l 



bills, they all seem possessed of the same manners, and have but one 

 character of cowardice, rapacity and indolence, yet insatiable hun- 

 ger. Other birds are found to grow fat by an abundant supply of 

 food; but these, though excessively destructive and voracious, are 

 ever found to have lean and carrion bodies, as if not even plenty 

 were sufficient for their support. 



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

 arce weighing three pounds and a half, yet it expands a breadth of 



scarce 



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 indolent and cowardly, and even flies at the approach of a 

 sparrow-hawk. It was once the amusement of the great to pursue 

 this timorous creature with the falcon ; and heron-hawking was so fa- 

 vourite a diversion among our ancestors, that laws were enacted for 

 he preservation of the species, and the person . who dest r oyed 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 an- 

 cestors 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 it with inevit- 

 able aim. In this manner he is found to destroy more in a week 

 than an otter in three months. " I have seen a heron," says Wil- 

 loughby, " 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 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 k*n>t tame 

 herons, to try what quantity one of them would eat in a dn.v. have 

 put several smaller roach and dace in a tub, and they have fouvd 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, *xd so 

 detrimental to those who stock ponds with fish. In general, te is 

 seen taking his gloomy stand by the lake's side, as if meditating nts- 

 chief, motionless and gorged with plunder. His usual attitude on 

 this occasion is to sink his long neck between his shoulders, and 

 keep his head turned on one side, as if eyeing the pool more intently. 

 When the call of hunger returns, the toil of an hour or two is gene- 

 rally sufficient to fill his capacious stomach, and he retires long be- 

 fore night to his retreat in the woods. Early in the morning, how- 

 ever, 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 with- 

 in reach : the fish that before came into the shallow water, uow keep 



