IRE COMMON HEEON. 



181 



He will take young water-fowl, too, from the nest, and after pinching them all over in his formidable 

 bill, and holding them Milder water till they have become well saturated, he throws up his head, opens 

 his mandibles, and the ' Poule d'eau souchee ' disappears. 



"Some years ago we paid a visit, in the month of May, to a certain reservoir in Yorkshire, where 

 the Pochard (Anas ferina) was known to have bred, our object being to ascertain whether this duck 

 was then nesting there, and to learn what other fowl were on the water. We might say a good deal 

 of that pleasant excursion, but must confine our attention for the present to the Heron. At one end 

 of the reservoir is, or was, a thick bed of willows, extending out some distance from the shore. The 



NIGHT HERON. 



water at this spot is shallow, with a muddy bottom. Coots and Moor-hens were numerous and noisy, 

 swimming about amongst the willows, and collecting materials for their nests. We lay upon the grass 

 at the edge of the water, peering quietly through the willows, and learnt a great deal of the private 

 life of these water-fowl. While we were gazing, a Heron, which must have flown unnoticed up the 

 water, dropped suddenly in the shallow, within twenty yards of our ambush. Here was an opportunity 

 for observation. Scarcely venturing to breathe, we watched with interest every motion of the great grey 

 bird. His long black crest and pendent breast-feathers showed him to be fully adult, and we thought 

 at the time we had seldom seen a Heron in finer plumage. With head and neck erect, he took a cautious 

 glance all round, as if to satisfy himself that he was unobserved, and apparently assured, he then 

 looked down at the water. For some minutes he never altered his position, till at length, bending 

 slowly and gracefully forward, he suddenly struck the water with his bill, and recovered a small fish. 

 A- pinch, a toss of the head, and it had disappeared down his thi'oat. He then drew himself together 

 with apparent satisfaction, wiped his bill upon his long breast-plumes, and slightly altering his position, 

 166 



