256 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



together in perfect amity. Nests of the herons and 

 of their sable companions are not infrequently found 

 in the same tree. Any threatened invasion of the 

 two colonies of brooding birds produces a very different 

 result on their respective denizens. The rooks get 

 off their nests and circle, crying and cawing, until 

 the disturber has vanished; the herons fly silently 

 and straight away. During a stormy spring many 

 of the eggs are blown from the nest and destroyed 

 a fate which often befalls the young herons them- 

 selves in autumn. Now that the birds are breeding 

 it is easy to see by the aid of a binocular that they sit 

 upon their nests with their legs under them, and not 

 (as was once supposed) either pushed through the 

 sticks or thrust behind them. In its domestic 

 relations the heron is both amicable and honest. 

 If a nest is blown down the birds go to work in the 

 precincts of the rookery, but never touch the rooks' 

 sticks. The heron's nest is a rude, wide-spreading 

 platform constructed of beech twigs, and not lined 

 with wool as generally stated, but with the fine shoots 

 of the larch. The appearance is that of a ring- 

 dove's nest on a large scale, and so open in texture 

 that the sitting bird or eggs may be seen through 

 the foundation. The heron breeds both early and 

 late, and has often three or four broods in a season. 

 At this time they are rarely seen fishing in the bay, 

 and seem to prefer round fish upon which to feed 



