300 THE HERON 



that it may now be ranked as an annual visitor to this 

 country. 



It is about 23 inches in length; wing 12 inches. 

 The crown and nape are black with a green metallic 

 lustre. Brow white, about the base of the beak. Two 

 or three, occasionally four, snow-white feathers, point- 

 ing backwards, adorn its crown. The eye is large 

 with a carmine-red iris ; the long, pointed beak is black ; 

 the back is black with a greenish lustre ; neck, wings and 

 tail are ashen-grey. Underparts white, legs reddish- 

 yellow. The female bird is more uniform in colour. 

 The young are speckled, while still in the nest. 



The Common Heron (Ardeacinerea) is well distributed 

 throughout Great Britain. There are, as before, when 

 this bird was used in the old Falconry days, very many 

 'Colonies, although these are not so crowded with nests 

 as they used to be. The long-legged grey fisher is one 

 of the most interesting sights beside our streams and 

 meres. "Judy o' the Bog" is the name given to the 

 Heron by the peasants in the south of Ireland. Young- 

 Herons were much in favour as table birds in the olden 

 times. They are still eaten in some districts, but they 

 .are only good at certain seasons, if then ; the flesh has 

 mostly a very oily, fishy taste. The good this bird does 

 in devouring water-rats, field-mice, worms and insects 

 is counterbalanced by its depredations amongst the fish 

 where the latter are a consideration. 



Let me give here again a presentment of our Common 

 Heron in the Marshlands of Kent. "An empty stomach 

 has caused the Heron to leave his sanctuary in the 

 Scotch firs that close in one end of the now frozen mere, 

 and to come floating down to the river side. He has 

 left bitter weather behind him, at any rate, for out in 



