NIGHT-HERON. 499 



narrow creek, we took off our boots and stockings, and, turning up our 

 trousers, picked our way through the tangled boughs in the direction of 

 the sound, which evidently proceeded from the centre of the island ; and 

 I shall not easily forget the sight we beheld when we reached it. 



" There, on the pressed-down boughs of the willows, only a few feet 

 above the water, were hundreds of great flat nests of the various kinds of 

 herons, spoonbills, egrets, bitterns, &c., all huddled together in one con- 

 fused mass, and the entire colony reeking with the most indescribably 

 filthy smell. 



" It was rather late for eggs, as most of them were hatched off ; but it 

 was just the time to observe the doings of the children of these sedate, 

 quiet, peaceful-looking birds ; and I must say that I never yet beheld such 

 a collection of little fiends, nor a more hideous set. Their bodies were of 

 the smallest proportions, while every other part of them their wings, legs, 

 necks, and beaks were of the longest ; most of them had no feathers, and 

 all seemed possessed with one idea, and that was either to limb a small 

 brother or swallow him whole, and all kept up either a shriek of fear or 

 pain or a yell of rage. Floating on the top of the putrid water were 

 masses of dead birds, some with legs torn off, others without heads or 

 wings. Most of them were dead ; but others were dragging their maimed 

 carcasses about in a ghastly manner. So intent were they on their fiendish 

 pastime that they took little notice of us, and dragged and clawed them- 

 selves about after their weaker brethren at our very feet, whilst the old 

 parent birds sat looking on from the topmost twigs, as if fratricide were the 

 proper moral pastime of the young. A big spoonbill would chase a small 

 egret from bough to bough, till at last he tired it out, and then seizing it 

 with one claw, would take hold of its leg or wing and tear it from the poor 

 victim, or else getting its head in its mouth, would try to swallow it whole, 

 and gulp and gulp till so much of the little one was down its throat that 

 it was itself choked, and would turn over on its back kicking and strug- 

 gling, to be in turn seized by a brother, and torn limb from limb. 



"All kept up some hideous scream, and all kept clambering and 

 dragging themselves about from bough to bough, all either hunting or 

 being hunted ; and from what we saw I am sure nine-tenths of all hatched 

 in that colony came to an untimely end before they could fly. We did not 

 stay long to watch them, but quickly securing some eggs from the few 

 nests that were not hatched off, we beat a retreat, with our opinions of the 

 beautiful, gentle-looking birds greatly changed." 



Swinhoe * describes a colony of these birds in China as follows : " This 

 is the sacred bird of the great Honam Temple, Canton. The court-yard in 

 front of this temple contains some venerable banyans, as well as a few 

 towering cotton-trees (Bombax malabaricuni). On the higher branches of 



* ' Ibis,' 1861, p. 53. 



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