OUR HERONRY 259 



indicate the heron as a slow-flying bird; but this 

 impression is quite erroneous. If timed by a 

 watch it will be found that no fewer than two 

 hundred and fifty separate wing movements are 

 made per minute, counting the upward and down- 

 ward strokes. The literary legacy as to the heron's 

 varying altitude of flight foreboding fair weather or 

 foul would seem to have no foundation in fact; at 

 least years of observation have yielded no indication 

 of this. The altitude of flight is regulated according 

 to the distance of the bird's fishing ground. If the 

 place is near, the flight is slow and sluggish at only 

 a few yards above the surface; if lower down the 

 bay the flight is higher; while if to a distant spot, 

 more vigorous and rapid wing-movements indicate 

 the intention. 



When fishing in a trout stream the heron stands 

 looking more like a lump of drift-stuff caught in the 

 bushes than an animate object. Gaunt, consumptive 

 and sentinel-like the bird watches with breast 

 depressed and poised upon one leg. Woe to the 

 tiny trout or samlet that comes within reach of its 

 formidable pike, for it is at once impaled and gulped 

 down. This impalement is given with great force, 

 and a wounded heron has been known to drive its 

 bill right through a stout stick. Nothing from fry 

 to mature fish comes amiss to the heron, and the 

 young consume great quantities. Sometimes they 



