PLATE III 

 HERON. A rdea cinerea 



May 6///. 1895. The nest from which this 1'late is taken was built in the 

 top of a blown-down tree in Cardross Big Wood, near the Lake of Monteith, 

 Perthshire. After the heavy gale of November 1894 the entire part of the 

 wood in which the Heronry was, was levelled with the ground, and the great 

 trees lay piled in a fearful tangle one on the top of another. Curiously 

 enough the Herons did not desert the site of their old colony, but built their 

 nests on the fallen trees, choosing the highest of them for that purpose. 



Most of the nests contained fairly large young birds when I visited them, 



but they were very difficult to get at, as the whole place was blocked with 



fallen trees and inundated with water. However, with some little trouble I 



managed to rig up my camera in one tree and look into a nest in the next 



one. 



While I was photographing the nest, an old Heron arrived with a fair- 

 sized eel in one of the other nests some distance off, and judging by the 

 noise which the distribution of this choice morsel prwluced, I expect it was 

 considered very palatable. 



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