14 AKDEID^ 



banks of the river Maine, co. Kerry. 1 When satiated with 

 food the bird usually stands with its neck coiled or folded 

 back, so that the head is well sunk between the shoulders, 

 an attitude too seldom reproduced by the taxidermist. I 

 have noted the remarkable tameness of immature birds in 

 localities where they are not molested. For instance, on one 

 of the lakes near Waterville, co. Kerry, I have sculled a 

 boat, containing several occupants, to within ten yards of 

 a Heron. We watched it wading, knee-deep, at a slow 

 deliberate pace, along the brink of the lake, rapidly 

 demolishing small fish. It did not appear in the least 

 alarmed until we arrived right beside it among the rushes, 

 when it quickly raised its head, and stretching its long 

 neck to its fullest, took flight, alighting again a short 

 distance on. 



Though Herons generally move slowly on foot or remain 

 motionless when searching for food, I have seen parties of 

 immature birds pacing at a brisk rate through shallow 

 channels on the coast, snapping up, in quick succession, 

 shrimps and tiny fishes, which were swarming beneath 

 them. I have noticed this habit in early autumn when 

 the old and young birds visit the esturine slob-lands and 

 sand-flats of the coast. 



Food. The Heron lives largely on coarse fresh-water 

 fish, though in some places it is destructive to young 

 trout and salmon. It is also fond of frogs and newts, 

 and it preys, to a less extent, upon rats and young birds : 

 in hard frost it has been known to carry off a screaming 

 water-hen (Ussher). I have seen a Heron strike a Black- 

 bird, which occupied the same aviary, and swallow it, 

 feathers and all. 



Flight. A Heron flying is a characteristic figure. It 

 leisurely flaps its ample wings, carrying its long legs straight 

 out behind, which appear to the observer like a pair of 

 elongated tail-feathers, while the neck is drawn back 

 between the shoulders. The Heron, therefore, when flying 

 assumes quite a different pose from that of many other long- 

 necked birds, e.g., Cormorants, Swans, Geese, Ducks, Grebes, 

 Divers, which fly with their necks at full stretch. The 

 Heron is, under ordinary circumstances, a slow-flying bird, 



1 Herons are numerous along this river, which skirts the Heronry of 

 Kilcoleman Abbey. 



