322 HISTORY OF 



with their usual appetite for mischief, climbed up, 

 took down the young ones, sowed up their vents, 

 and laid them in the nest as before. The pain 

 the poor little animals felt from the operation 

 increased their cries ; and this but served to in- 

 crease the diligence of the old ones in enlarging 

 their supply. Thus they heaped the nest with 

 various sorts of fish, and the best of their kind ; 

 and as their young screamed, they flew off for 

 more. The boys gathered up the fish, which the 

 young ones were incapable of eating, till the old 

 ones at last quitted their nest, and gave up their 

 brood, whose appetites they found it impossible 

 to satisfy. 



The heron is said to be a very long-lived bird ; 

 by Mr Keysler's account, it may exceed sixty 

 years ; and by a recent instance of one that was 

 taken in Holland, by a hawk belonging to the 

 Stadtholder, its longevity is again confirmed, the 

 bird having a silver plate fastened to one leg, with 

 an inscription, importing that it had been struck 

 by the elector of Cologne's hawks thirty-five years 

 before. 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF THE BITTERN OR MIRE-DRUM. 



THOSE who have walked in an evening by the 

 sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers, must remem- 

 ber a variety of notes from different water fowl ; 



