142 GRALL^. 



cially, it must be on the fishing ground at an early hour, it 

 must fly so high as to command a wide horizon. Its size too 

 makes it an object of attack to the larger hawks, against 

 which its chief safety consists in the loftiness of its flight ; 

 and so, on its long flights in clear weather, when it ranges to 

 great distances, its habit is to keep the sky of all other birds. 

 It seldom meets with the golden eagle, as its pastures lie 

 lower down, and as hawking on the wing is not the forte of 

 that majestic and powerful bird, she would probably not 

 contend for the sky with the heron : and as the hawks and 

 falcons are not in the habit of flying very high above the 

 range of their quarry, they do not give chase to the heron, 

 unless when it has just taken wing, or is only at a moderate 

 height ; and though it is not nearly equal to some of them 

 in forward flight, it can climb much more readily. When 

 on the ground, it has not much to apprehend from them, 

 Hawks at close quarters are not so formidable as they are 

 in their rush ; and as the eye and the bill of the heron are 

 equally quick and certain, it is not very safe to go in upon 

 him. 



The bill of the heron is nearly six inches in length, of a 

 dusky colour, except the base of the lower mandible, which 

 is yellowish ; the irides are yellow, and the orbits, round 

 which there is a naked space, and also the naked parts of 

 the legs and feet, are of a greenish colour ; the middle claw 

 is serrated. 



The adult male has the forehead and crown of the head 

 white, with a pendant crest of glossy black feathers towards 

 the hinder part ; the neck dull white, with two rows of 

 black or dusky spots down the fore part ; the sides of the 

 body from the breast to the thighs are black, but the central 

 part from the middle of the breast is white ; the thighs are 

 white, but tinged with rust colour. The upper part is black 

 ash, mixed with white on the scapulars ; the tail, which is 



