THE HOME LIFE OF THE HERON 123 



Then again his head is raised ; more convulsions of the throat and 

 cheeks follow, whilst the youngsters, squealing with undiminished energy, 

 seize and scrape his lowered beak as before. 



At length, having raised and lowered his head some seven or eight times, he 

 ultimately, in spite of the frantic efforts of the family to seize any unoccupied 

 portion of his bill, succeeds in disgorging into the nest what may be described 

 as the ' main meal,' consisting of partially digested eels, and, apparently, some 

 of the usual crustaceans. 



The young ones gobble up this mass in an extraordinarily short time, and 

 then, their interest in their parent having temporarily abated, amuse them- 

 selves by silently searching for unnoticed trifles amongst the crevices of the 

 nest. 



Meanwhile their parent, well satisfied it would seem, with the progress of 

 the family, stands contentedly on the edge of the nest, blinking his eyes, and 

 making from time to time the characteristic ' clop,' which he does by closing 

 his beak with a snap. 



Then, having shaken himself heartily, he turns his head towards the 

 marshes, spreads his great wings and sails away. 



A commotion on the right suggests that a Heron has just alighted, and 

 turning to the right-hand peephole, we peer through to see that the female 

 Heron with the eggs in her nest has again returned, and is standing on her 

 threshold having a last look round before settling down ; probably half 

 expecting to see another sack fall from the observation post ! 



However, things seem normal, and she steps gracefully forward, and, bend- 

 ing her legs, sinks gently down into the nest. Then once more the yellow eye 

 is fixed at least so it seems* upon the little peephole. 



Here it may perhaps be mentioned that there exists to-day in many parts 

 of the country a common belief that the Heron constructs its nest with a couple 

 of holes through which the legs of the sitting bird may be allowed to hang. 

 The writer has sometimes ventured to question this theory with some of its 

 followers, but to no purpose ; for the argument is finally settled by their remark- 

 ing that the birds must build their nests in this way, or they would be unable, 

 on account of their long legs, to sit at all ! 



About an hour after the male has fed and left the nest of half-grown 

 young ones, the female comes to feed them. One knows some few seconds 

 before she reaches the nest that one or other of the parent birds is about to 

 arrive, for the young ones begin their bobbing movements and the curious 

 ' chun-chun ' noise. 



When she at length pitches on the side of the nest, we are indeed amazed 

 to see a bird so badly turned out at this time of the year. With wet head and 

 neck evidently from a very recent immersion in water and lacking the beauti- 

 ful black plumes at the back of the head, she really reminds one very much of 



