ii2 SURREY SCENES 



lishment of the heronry ; for, strange to say, this is not 

 a survival, but a new colony, and a unique instance ot 

 the migration of what are almost the shyest birds in 

 England, toivards rather than away from a populous 

 city. 



The original home of these herons was in the home 

 park at Hampton Court, where the heronry had been 

 for two centuries one of the ornaments of Wolsey's 

 palace by the Thames. There, some ten years back, 

 they were disturbed by the felling of some trees near 

 their nests, and forsaking Hampton Court, they estab- 

 lished their new home in the wood at the head of the 

 two lakes, which are known jointly as the " Penn 

 Ponds." There, protected partly by the care of the 

 keepers, partly by the wary silence and stillness main- 

 tained by these nocturnal birds, the colony has increased 

 from ten to fifteen nests, unknown to most visitors to 

 the park, who possibly mistake* the harsh and barking 

 cry, which sometimes issues from the grove towards 

 sunset, for the voice of a dog, or the challenge of a 

 solitary stag. 



A closer acquaintance with the inner life of the 

 heronry, and with the nature of the wood in which it is 

 situated, goes far to explain the heron's choice. Pro- 

 tected on the lower side by the broad waters of the 

 lake, and screened from view on the south and west by 

 a thick fringe of birch trees, the wood is the chosen 

 home, not only of the herons, but of all the wild 

 creatures in which the park abounds. The running 

 stream which descends from the high ground towards 



