CLASS II. AVES: ORDEli 7. GRALLATORES 



289 



THE EUROPEAN NIGHT HERON. 



and unless for the occasional hollow screams of the herons, and the melancholy chirping of one 

 or two species of small birds, all is silence, solitude, and desolation. "When a breeze rises, at first 

 it sighs mournfully through the tops; but as the gale increases, the tall, mast-like cedars wave 

 like fishing-poles, and rubbing against each other, produce a variety of singular noises, that, with 

 the help of a little imagination, resemble shrieks, groans, growling of bears, wolves, and such like 

 comfortable music. On the tops of the tallest of these cedars the herons construct their nests, 

 ten or fifteen pair sometimes occupying a particular part of the swamp. The nests are large, 

 formed of sticks and lined with smaller twigs; each occupies the top of a single tree. The eggs 

 are generally four, larger than those of a hen, and of a light greenish-blue, without any spots. 

 The young are produced about the middle of May, and remain on the trees until they are full as 

 heavy as the old ones, being extremely fat, before they are able to fly. They breed but once in 

 the season. If disturbed in their breeding place, the old birds fly occasionally over the spot, 

 sometimes honking like a goose, sometimes uttering a coarse, hollow, gi-uuting noise, like that of 

 a hog, but much louder. 



"The principal food of the great heron is fish, for which he watches with the most unwearied 

 patience, and seizes them with surprising dexterity. At the edge of the river, pond, or sea-shore, 

 he stands fixed and motionless, sometimes for hours together. But his stroke is quick as thought, 

 and sure as fate, to the first luckless fish that approaches within his reach ; those he sometimes 

 beats to death, and always swallows head foremost, such being their uniform position in the stom- 

 ach. He is also an excellent mouser, and of great service to our meadows in destroying the 

 short-tailed or meadow-mouse, so injurious to the banks. He also feeds eagerly on grasshoppers, 

 various winged insects, particularly dragon-flies, which he is very expert at striking, and also eats 

 the seeds of that species of nymphai usually called spatter docTcs^ so abundant along our fresh-water 

 ponds and rivei's." 



The Black-crowned Night-Heron, A. discors — Nyctiardea Gardeni of Baird — is twenty-five 

 inches long ; general color white ; has a light crest ; derives its name from its nocturnal habits, 

 being usually seen flying at night or in the evening, and utters a sonorous cry of quaw or qumvk, 

 whence it is often called the Qumck or Qua Bird. It is very similar to the Night-Heron of 

 Europe, Nycticorax Gardeni of Yarrell. 



Vol. II.— 37 



