140 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



bailiff said, were shy, wary, and silent ; they seemed to know 

 they bore the mark of an avine Cain; they allowed of no near 

 approach, but glided out of their nest like black spirits, 

 noiselessly and speedily, and kept away until the coast was 

 clear again. Rooks nested there numerously also, and as 

 many as five hundred young ones were shot each season, 

 while jackdaws too had a few nests in the neighbourhood. 

 Reedham heronry is by no means a lonely spot in bird- 

 dom. 



All the time we were chatting and brushing through the 

 bracken an hour at least various species of moths took to 

 wing at our approach ; but not so the flies, which buzzed 

 around our heads by hundreds : our hats were like bee- 

 hives. The prevailing odour must certainly be sweet to 

 them, and no doubt they find the undergrowth a happy 

 hunting-ground. They either welcomed us or protested 

 against our presence I thought they did a great deal of 

 both and but for decorating the eaves of my hat with a 

 festoon of brake-leaves, the torture to me, at any rate 

 would have been unendurable ; my friend seemed on better 

 terms with them. They left us, however, when we came out 

 of the " carr," and in a very short time I left my most com- 

 municative friend to hurry to the train, thanking my lucky 

 star that my " name and fame " had preceded me, and had 

 acted as an "open sesame" to the good man's store of heron- 

 lore. 



On arrival home I opened Mr. Southwell's dainty volume 

 on Natural History by Sir Thomas Browne, 1 and could but 

 help wishing that his remark, " The great number of riuers 

 riuulets and plashes of water makes hernes and herneries to 

 abound in these parts," held good in its entirety to-day. But 

 to see such a goodly heronry as that at Reedham was an 

 experience far from uninteresting ; and I endorsed his further 

 remark respecting " yong hensies being esteemed a festiuall 

 dish and much desired by some palates," for I certainly 

 prefer to wild duck the carcase of a juvenile heron that has 

 not yet grown rank by living long enough on a diet of 

 fishes and other flavouring creatures. 



1 Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk, by Sir Thomas 

 Browne, edited by T. Southwell, F.z.s. Jarrold, 1902. 



