THE HERON. 



317 



Heron. 



the breast of a species of the American Bittern ; and most, if 

 not all the birds of the Heron genus, especially our common 

 Heron, have on their breasts a considerable space void of 

 feathers, filled up by tufts 

 of down, to which adheres 

 a sort of clammy oily 

 substance. It is not 

 therefore unlikely that 

 this oily matter may, 

 either by smoothing the 

 water or in some other 

 way, enable the bird to 

 attract, or when attracted, 

 to strike its prey with 

 greater certainty. This 

 idea is strengthened by a 

 generally prevailing opi- 

 nion respecting the Fish 

 Hawk of North America, 

 which, when hovering 



over the water, is supposed to have some attractive power 

 over its prey, upon which, when collected within reach, it 

 pounces. The charm is believed to be an oil contained in a 

 small bag in the body, as baits touched with a drop of it are 

 considered to be an irresistible lure for all sorts of fish. 



The Heron's feathers are also occasionally found loaded 

 with a blue powder, which may possibly serve its purpose in 

 some way not hitherto discovered. Their appetite is in pro- 

 portion to their powers of digestion. A Heron was once 

 seen to dart upon a large eel, and after killing it by 

 repeatedly dashing it against the ground, gulp it all down. 

 We have known another to consume no less than five 

 moderate-sized eels at a single meal, which the glutton 

 seemed quite ready to repeat within a very short time after ; 

 and one was found dead not long ago on the banks of 

 Pulganny, otherwise called the Water of Badenoch, near 

 Drumlanford House, in Scotland, the stomach of which 

 - actually contained the extraordinary number of thirty-nine 

 fine trouts. 



