CHAPTER XXV 



Herons Recognising a distant friend Habits of Herons Food "The 

 Heron never dies." 



To return to the rookery for a moment, however, an 

 occasional Heron nests here. In 1906 I saw a nest from 

 which a brood were successfully reared, in a young larch 

 tree, not above twenty feet from the ground, and surrounded 

 by Rooks' nests on every side. The nest had perhaps been 

 founded upon an old Rook's nest, and was a large collection 

 of sticks, looking more bulky than usual in the slim tree. 

 It was not, as is generally the case with Herons' nests, at 

 the top of the tree, with an uninterrupted entrance from 

 above, but had to be approached laterally through the inter- 

 vening branches, and was the only Heron's nest so situated 

 I ever remember seeing. There are generally one or two 

 Herons' nests on the trees by the side of the lake, a flat- 

 topped pine being the favourite site ; and the angler, pursuing 

 his avocation up any of the mountain streams, will occasionally 

 meet with a solitary bird standing sentinel over a quiet pool, 

 or dozing in some accustomed resting place, at once the 

 embodiment of alertness and sleepy disregard of all but 

 his own digestion. Very few birds make more for the 

 picturesque than a Heron in such situations ; and though 

 he may rob us of a few trout, it should not be forgotten, 

 by those who are disposed to regard him as a poacher, that 

 he takes them all by fair fishing by the triumph of his 

 own skill and patience over their cunning, and that he 

 swallows, besides, many eels, rats, frogs, and other uncon- 

 sidered trifles. 



Herons do not come to roost at the rookery, towards 



nightfall and dawn being the usual periods of their greatest 



199 



