alternately, for, like the Cormorant, the Heron is a great glutton. The food 

 of the Heron is largely composed of fish, frogs, lizards or newts, insects, and 

 sometimes mice. It occasionally kills young coots and waterhens, and at the 

 Lake of Monteith I found the remains of a young mallard in a nest. In 

 winter, when its inland haunts are frozen up, it descends to some secluded part 

 of the shore, where it devours small crabs and shrimps. Its note is a harsh 

 guttural croak, and is mostly uttered on the wing; as a rule, however, the 

 Heron is a very silent bird, except at its breeding-place, where a perfect 

 chorus of cries may often be heard. 



The Heron is a very early breeder, and eggs may be taken during the 

 first week in March ; in the North, however, they seldom lay until the end of 

 the month. The favourite nesting-place of the Heron is in the tops of tall 

 trees, sometimes on the flat branches of larch-trees or Scotch fir, sometimes 

 near the top of a tall spruce or silver- fir, or on the topmost branch of some 

 deciduous tree. In localities where trees are scarce it builds its nest on ledges 

 of cliffs or on ruined buildings, sometimes on ivy-covered rocks, and occasionally 

 on steep sloping ground. The nest is very often an immense accumulation 

 of sticks, turf, and sometimes a little grass or moss, and is usually repaired 

 year after year. It is generally lined with finer twigs of larch, fir, or other 

 kinds of trees. By the time the young are able to fly the whole nest and 

 much of the tree is completely whitewashed by the droppings of the birds, 

 and the nest is usually a mass of decaying fish, which on a close, hot day in 

 spring gives forth a sickening stench. Many of the young birds usually die, 

 and these may be found on the ground beneath the trees with broken egg- 

 shells and remains of fish. 



From three to five eggs are laid ; they are greenish blue in colour, 

 rough and chalky in texture, the shell being generally full of tiny pores, and 

 sometimes covered with little chalky excrescences. There is not much variety 

 in the colour or shape of the eggs, though some specimens are much paler 

 in colour than others. They vary in length from 2'6 to 2-4 inches, and 

 in breadth from r8 to 1*5 inch. 



Only one brood is reared in the year, the whole of the young seldom 

 arriving at maturity. When the young birds are nearly full-fledged they 

 climb about the branches round the nest, helping themselves about with 

 their bills like parrots, and keeping up an incessant chorus of l kik-kik-k&k! 

 There is often a considerable interval between the laying of each successive 

 egg, and as the Heron begins to sit as soon as the first egg is laid, the 

 young in the same nest are frequently of very different sizes and ages. 



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