26 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



crane their long necks from side to side and peer 

 down through the foliage at the unwelcome in- 

 truder. The air is full of Herons sailing about 

 so buoyantly, and here and there you may hear 

 the big birds crashing through the branches, 

 either hastily leaving their nests or coming back 

 Herons lay- to them. Soon the pale green eggs are laid, and 

 A?nh th when the young are hatched the scene becomes 

 even more animated and interesting. Regularly 

 as Rooks the old birds pass to and fro with food, 

 and the ground under the nest trees is strewn 

 with broken egg-shells, dead nestlings, which 

 have either fallen or been blown from the nests, 

 and quantities of decaying fish. When they are 

 partly fledged, and long before they can fly, the 

 young birds climb out of the nests into the 

 branches, using their beaks as well as their claws 

 to assist them. Unfortunately the poor Heron 

 is a much-persecuted bird, and its colonies are 

 few and far between, and only in districts where 

 man affords them his protection. It is cause for 

 regret that " our last large bird " should bid fair 

 to become extinct in England as a breeding 

 species, and share the same fate as the Bustard, 

 the Spoonbill, and the Kite, which have now 

 ceased to rear their young in this country. 

 Another early - breeding bird is the House 

 Sparrow ; in fact, it is busy rearing family after 

 family during all the warm months of the year. 

 Some of these birds build a domed nest in trees, 

 others a slovenly structure in holes of buildings 



