THE HEEOK.] 



BY FIELD, WOOD, AND WATER. 



[tub heeon. 



any other kind of bird has Bpiral winj^s. 

 Southey, however, seems to have been well 

 acquainted with the boom of the bittern — 



-" At evening, o'er the swampy plain, 



The bittern's boom came far." 

 The shooting of the bittern scarcely merits 

 the uameof sport, as their numbers are limited, 

 and thev are seldom sought for as especial ob- 

 jects of game. They arc easily brought to the 

 <^rouud. They rise heavily on the wing, and 

 move forward with a slow and deliberate mo- 

 tion, and are, therefore, a good mark for the 

 fowler. Sometimes, however, they will rise 

 rapidly, with a spiral motion ; and when this 

 is the case they are not so readily shot. A 

 double gun is of advantage in seeking for this 

 shv bird. When -wounded it fights hard ; and 

 when driven to extremity, will attack a man 

 with vigour, striking his legs with its bill, and 

 even in some cases aiming a blow at his head. 

 This bird was once held in high esteem at the 

 tables of the great, and is still highly prized by 

 the real sportsman. 



THE HERON. 

 This noble-looking bird is the Ardea Major 

 of Liuujeus ; and has been described by Buffon 

 as " a picture of wretchedness, anxiety, and 

 indigence, condemned to struggle perpetually 

 •with misery and want, and sickened by the 

 restless cravings of a famished appetite." 

 How suck a description could have fallen from 

 the pen of the great French naturalist we are 

 at a loss to divine ; as, throughout the whole 

 scheme of creation, there is no animal, in a 

 natural state, doomed to a life of perpetual 

 wretchedness. The bird is just as happy as 

 any other bird ; and it follows its instinctive 

 habits with the same unerring regularity as do 

 the members of every other tribe of the 

 feathered creation. It is seen to stand for 

 hours fixed like a stake to a given spot — no 

 evidence of life in it — waiting patiently for 

 the moment to arrive when the trout or the 

 minnow shall come within the range of its long 

 cranked neck. Its movements are among the 

 wonders of this class of fen-birds ; and if 

 patience is a virtue, then the heron is abun- 

 dantly endowed with it. 



The beron has a wonderful capacity of 

 stomach. It may be said literally to swallow 

 no end of fish. Some young birds have been 



known to consume fifty small roach in a day. 

 These birds make their iicmIs of pieces of stick, 

 lined with wool and feathers ; and the female 

 lays five or six eggs, of a pale green colour. 

 During incubation, the male bird passes much 

 of his time perched by the side of tlio female. 

 They abandon their nests during the winter 

 season, except in the month of February, 

 when they return to them, and put them into 

 a state of repair. 



In the sport of hawking, the heron, in 

 ancient times, was a frequent victim ; but it 

 had a means of defending itself which may not 

 be known to the generality of our readers. A 

 note in the Booke of St. Allan's, says — " The 

 heron, or heronsew, is a fowl that liveth about 

 waters, and yet she doth so abhorre raine and 

 tempests, that she seekcth to avoid them by 

 flying on high. She hath her neste in very 

 loftie trees, and showeth, as it were, a natural 

 hatred against the goss-hawk, and other kinds 

 of hawks ; and so, likewise, doth the hawk seek 

 her destruction continually. When they fight 

 above in the aire, they labour both especially 

 for this one thing, that the one might ascend 

 and be above the other. Now, if the hawk 

 getteth the upper place, he overthrowetb and 

 vanquisheth the heron with a marvellous 

 earnest fliglit ; but if the heron get above the 

 hawk, then with his dung he defileth the 

 hawk, and so destroyeth him, for bis dung is a 

 poison to the hawk, rotting and putrefying bis 

 feathers." 



The heron seldom weighs more than three 

 or four pounds, notwithstanding it measures 

 about three feet in length ; and the breadth of 

 its wings, from tip to tip, is above five feet. The 

 bill is full six inches long, straight, pointed, 

 strong, and serrated ; and the upper mandible 

 is of a yellowish horn colour, dark towards the 

 ridge, whilst the under one is yellow. A bare 

 skin is extended from the beak towards the 

 eye, the irides of which are yellow, which im- 

 parts to them a fierce and penetrating look. 

 The brow and crown of the head are white ; 

 the eyes bordered by black lines, which stretch 

 to the nape of the neck, where they join a 

 long, flowing, pendent crest of the same 

 colour. The upper part of the neck, in some 

 birds, is white ; in others pale ash colour ; 

 and the fore part, lower down, is spotted with 

 a double row of black feathers ; those falling 



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