Vol. Ill, No. 8,] Note on the Blue or Common Heron. 555 



hat-pegs o£ a railway carriage and transported long distances 

 by rail: they certainly suffer no injury, and seemingly no incon- 

 venience, for three days. 



Newly-caught herons generally sulk and refuse to feed till 

 they have lost much flesh and have become too weak to fly. If 

 there are no tame heroes to guide them, they should, for a 

 day or two, be fed by hand, frequently but sparingly ; not more 

 than one, or two, small fish the size of a sardine being given 

 at a time. If meat has to be given, it should be chopped up 

 and mixed with water, and a little fine river-sand should be 

 added. After the meal, a strip of rag should be tied round 

 the throat, at the bend of the neck closest to the head. If tied 

 on too low down, the heron will get its lower mandible wedged 

 under the bandage. At first the heron will try to vomit up 

 its meal, but after many failures it w^ill desist. If full meals 

 are at first given, the heron'3 repeated attempts to vomit 

 produce a dangerous form of indigestion. By the fourth day 

 the heron will have lost only a little flesh, but will have 

 acquired a voracious appetite. Its eyes may now be unseeled 

 and it may be turned loose in an enclosure. It will eat of its 

 own accord, probably even meat. 



Herons are very intelligent — or cunning, though there is 

 something about their head that irresistibly reminds one of a 



degenerate. 



Por two methods of snaring herons and water-fowl in the 

 Punjab, Sindh and Kashmir, t;«ie Journal, Asiatic Society, Bengal, 

 Vol, III, No. 6, 1907 In Ondh herons are said to be caught in 

 snares baited with a rat. 



