402 Ardeidce. 



s. Holt. I am told by Mr. Medlicott that Herons are in the 

 habit of congregating near Holt, and that a farmer of that 

 neighbourhood informed him that sometimes fifty might be seen 

 there together. This is very remarkable, for Holt is at a distance 

 from any Heronry. Mr. A. Mackay, of Holt Manor, observes that 

 they may constantly be seen in the valley between Bradford and 

 Bath. 



t. Baynton. Mr. W. Stancomb, junr., reports that though 

 Herons frequently come to the pond in front of the house at 

 Baynton, he thinks they come from Bowood, as their flight is 

 always in that direction. At all events, he knows of no colony 

 nearer than Bowood. 



u. Bulkington. I am informed by Colonel Wellington that 

 Herons occasionally come to the mill in this place, and are often 

 shot by the miller, who almost every year sends one to a friend 

 who appreciates the old-fashioned dish. 



v. Wilcot. The Rev. C. Soames remarks on the fact that 

 Herons appear in great force between Townsend, at Wilcot, and 

 the canal ; and wonders whence they come and where they roost 

 and nest ! 



w. Breamore. Mr. E. H. Hulse tells me that occasionally he 

 sees a Heron in the water-meadows at Breamore : but these are 

 Dorsetshire and Hampshire birds, which come over the border 

 into Wilts from the Heronries at Mottisfort, the seat of Lady 

 Barker-Mill ; and Somerley, the seat of Lord Normanton. 



I conclude my account of the Herons of Wiltshire with an 

 anecdote communicated to me by the Rev. A. P. Morres. ' Dr. 

 Humphrey Blackmore, some time since, found a Heron with its 

 beak firmly fixed through a large eel : the eel had twined itself 

 round the Heron's neck so firmly as to strangle it, and the Heron 

 had been unable to extricate its bill. They were both quite dead, 

 and frozen hard.' This is an exact counterpart of a similar case 

 mentioned by Yarrell, to which I refer my readers for a clever 

 vignette illustrating the catastrophe. 



