NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



period, if the weather is fair, but there is no hard-and- 

 fast rule among these birds, which manifestly pair and 

 gather by degrees for the nesting period. 



The heron is very seldom seen as a pet or in cap- 

 tivity. A wild, shy, solitary creature, its habits 

 scarcely render it a likely object for the attentions of 

 mankind. Yet this last summer I heard of a singular 

 instance of a heron striking up a friendship with 

 human folk. Some Scottish friends of mine were up 

 in the Highlands staying at an hotel. The two boys, 

 wandering one day on the moor, came across a young 

 heron which was wounded and unable to fly. After 

 some manoeuvring — for the heron is an awkward bird 

 to tackle — they secured it and took it home. Arrived 

 at the hotel, they put the sufferer into an old, disused 

 omnibus which stood in the yard — a strange receptacle 

 for such a bird — and there tended it. The young 

 heron did well, and steadily recovered, and presently 

 developed a strong friendship for its preservers, follow- 

 ing them about more like a tame dog than a wild bird. 

 After two or three weeks the wounded wing was healed, 

 and one morning, on being let out of its resting-place, 

 the bird took flight and sailed away. My friends all 

 thought they had seen the last of it. Not so, however. 

 That same evening the wanderer returned, and each 

 day, while the party remained at the hotel, it duly 

 winged its flight thither at evening. They left the 

 place, and so late as November last the boys were 

 delighted to hear from the hotel-keeper that the heron 

 still returned nightly to its abode. This is almost the 

 only instance with which I am acquainted of even the 

 partial domestication of a bird of this species. 



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