GREAT WHITE HERON'. 87 



Thomas Allis. Another, in full summer plumage, was shot 

 by an husbandman ab Scarborough, near Beverley, a seat of 

 Lord Hotham, about the year 1835. In Nottinghamshire, 

 one near Osberton, the seat of Gr. S. Foljambe, Esq. In 

 Lincolnshire one, and in Oxfordshire, one on the banks of 

 the Isis, in September, 1833. Another was also seen in 

 Cumberland on the shores of the Sol way; and one was shot, 

 a few years since, near Thorney Abbey, Cambridgeshire, of 

 which J. R. Little, Esq., of St. John's College, Cambridge, 

 has written me word. 



In Scotland, one, in Haddingtonshire, near the village of 

 Tyninghame, on the Frith of Forth. 



Their migratory journeys, says Meyer, are performed in 

 the day-time, at a great elevation, by two to four birds in 

 number. 



These birds haunt still pools, and other such places, in 

 which they wade in search of prey. They often perch on 

 the highest parts of lofty trees. They are of a somewhat 

 shy nature, but sociable among themselves, yet exclusively 

 so. They are, however, soon domesticated, and live for many 

 years ornaments to the poultry yard. 



They feed on fish, reptiles, molluscous animals, water-insects, 

 their larvae, worms, and any young birds that are so unfor- 

 tunate as to come within their reach. These doubtless are 

 most sought towards night-fall, when the 'pale cold moon' 

 glimmers on the water in the mournful solitudes which are 

 the general resort of this and its kindred species. If by 

 chance, or, it may be, not by chance, you are alone, in such 

 a place, at such a time, when either a dead silence prevails, 

 or the wind sighs and soughs through the uncultivated 

 wastes, how pleasing is the melancholy which cannot but be 

 felt. You seem spell-bound to the spot, and while the 

 lowering darkness evokes an indescribable emotion akin to 

 fear, you yet shrink from breaking the charm, and are loth 

 to leave the mysterious scene. 



The note, a mere wild cry, is described by Meyer as not 

 very loud, and resembling the syllable 'rah.' 



The nest, a very loose structure, built of sticks, reeds, flags, 

 and rushes, and lined with dry grass or leaves, is placed 

 generally on the ground, but sometimes on low trees, almost 

 always, according to Audubon, overhanging the water, and 

 many being placed in contiguity, as in the case of the common 

 species. The same situation is resorted to, and the old nest 



