470 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The note of the Heron is harsh, rather like the sound of a trumpet, but 

 more guttural and very short, and is generally uttered when the bird is 

 flying. When the bird is alarmed this note is modulated into a sort of 

 croak. The Heron is, however, generally a very silent bird. 



In the south of England the Heron is one of the earliest birds to breed, 

 and eggs may be obtained in the first week of March, but in Scotland they 

 are seldom laid before the end of that month. In Germany they are not 

 laid until the latter half of April, in Norway not until May, and in the valley 

 of the Lower Danube not until the first week of June. The late breeding 

 of this species in the valley of the Danube is a remarkable instance of the 

 special adaptation of the habits of a bird to the peculiar circumstances by 

 which it is surrounded : neither a warm climate nor abundance of food 

 tempt it to begin operations until the sun has begun to melt the snow on 

 the Carpathians and the Alps, causing this great river to rise and to over- 

 flow the lowlands that extend for miles between its main branches, and 

 make the willow-forests inaccessible, except with a boat. In these solitudes 

 it breeds in immense colonies, together with Ibises, Night-Herons, Squacco 

 Herons, Little Egrets, and Pigmy Cormorants, building a large nest in the 

 middle of a pollard willow, a few feet above the level of the flood, with 

 perhaps a score nests of its smaller companions in the same tree. The 

 favourite breeding-place of the Heron is, however, lofty trees, the flat 

 branch of a larch or the extreme summit of an elm, a Scotch fir, an oak, 

 or a sycamore. These heronries are generally to be found near water, but 

 sometimes at a considerable distance from it. In localities where there 

 are no trees, it builds its nest on ledges of rocks or ruins, and even on the 

 heathery slope of a mountain- side. The nest is a large structure, composed 

 of sticks and lined with fine twigs ; it is very flat, and sometimes contains 

 turf and moss. The old nest is usually repaired year after year, and by the 

 time the. young are able to fly, it is whitewashed with the droppings of the 

 birds. Several nests are generally built in one tree. 



The Heron lays from three to five eggs, but the full number seems rarely 

 to come to maturity. On the ground under the nests numerous dead young 

 birds of various ages are usually to be seen amongst the broken egg-shells 

 that the Herons have cast out of the nest and the twigs which they have 

 dropped in the process of building. When the young are able to fly, 

 frequently not more than one or two are seen in each nest, and these if 

 pursued will climb on the branches or up to the neighbouring nests, 

 using their bills, as well as their feet, almost like a parrot. 



The eggs of the Heron are greenish blue in colour, dull, and chalky in 

 texture. The shell is often full of minute pits, or covered with small 

 white excrescences. Some eggs are a much bluer green than others. 

 They vary in length from 2'65 to 2'3 inch, and in breadth from T79 to 



