510 ARDEIDJl. 



parents assist in providing them with food until they are 

 able to fly, and have learned to supply themselves. Pre- 

 vious to this time, when the heronry is visited by strangers, 

 the old birds leave their nests, and skimming in circles, 

 high above the trees, betray great anxiety till the party 

 have retired. The food of the Heron consists of fish, 

 reptiles, and small mammalia. When the Heron has only 

 himself to provide for, he usually fishes late in the evening, 

 and very early in the morning, sitting the whole day 

 perched on the branch of a large tree. 



When fishing, the Heron stands motionless in shallow 

 water, with the head drawn back towards the shoulders, 

 ready to strike or seize with his sharp beak whatever may 

 happen to come within his reach. If an eel chance to be 

 the object caught, the Heron has been seen to quit the 

 water to make the more sure of his prey, by beating it 

 against the ground till it is disabled. Mr. Dunn has 

 observed " in Orkney and Shetland, where Herons are 

 very plentiful, that this bird, let the wind be high or low, 

 invariably selects the lee side of the island or rock on which 

 the wind may be setting." 



A pair of Herons, kept by Dr. Neill in his garden at 

 Canonmills, near Edinburgh, produced two sets of eggs ; 

 during incubation the male frequently took his place on the 

 nest when the female went off to feed, but unfortunately 

 both the female and the eggs were destroyed by accident.* 

 Dr. Neill adds, " a large old willow tree had fallen down 

 into the pond, and at the extremity, which is partly sunk 

 in the sludge, and continues to vegetate, Water Hens 

 breed. The old cock Heron swims out to the nest, and 

 takes the young if he can. He has to swim ten or twelve 

 feet, where the water is between two and three feet deep. 



* Mr. Selby's British Ornithology, vol. ii. p. 13. 



