THE HERON. 141 



witnessed.* I once saw a heron seize a small flat-fish, and beat it 

 about much longer than seemed necessary merely to deprive it of 

 life, as if annoyed at the poor victim, for presuming to be too 

 inconveniently broad to go down its captor's sesophagus. 



Heron as Food. — Mr. E. Davis, of Clonmel, observes, " Herons 

 when young are excellent eating. By cutting off the wings, 

 tarsi, and head, and making them into wild-geese, I have had them 

 cooked us such, and an excellent dish they make, in my estima- 

 tion, fully equal to grouse ; but if not disguised it is hard to have 

 justice done them ; so great is the prejudice against eating such 

 unchristian birds." It has also been remarked to me by a friend, 

 that once when dining at Bogay (Donegal), a young heron was 

 served up roasted at table, and proved excellent, the flavour 

 resembling that of hare, as the dark colour of the flesh likewise 

 did. It was not in the least fishy. Another friend, who has eaten 

 of herons in the south of Ireland, remarks, that " they are very 

 variable, occasionally good, but oftener not so." They are some- 

 times buried in the earth for several days, with the object of re- 

 moving the fishy taste. 



Heronries. 



With respect to heronries, it may be stated, that about two miles from 

 Belfast there is a small one at Belvoir Park ; a second, ten miles dis- 

 tant, at Hillsborough Park, where about fifty pahs of birds annually 

 build ; a third, about twenty miles off, at Seaforde ; there are also some 

 nests at Killileagh Castle, — localities in the county of Down. In 

 Antrim, Shanes-Castle Park is a breeding haunt 3 and there is a srnall 

 heronry on the island in a lake at Lissanoure Castle. At Banada, on a 

 branch of the river Moy (Sligo) there is said to be one. At Westport 



* A gentleman once stated positively to me that he had seen a heron, when 

 flying near the Long Bridge, Belfast, swallow an eel three times, which as often 

 passed through its body, and was again captured before reaching the water. Even- 

 tually the bird bore off its victim, and, by beating agaiust a stone, killed it. The 

 belief is common that an eel will thus several times pass through the stomach and in- 

 testines of the heron, by which it is picked up again and swallowed. But is not this, 

 in every instance, an optical deception arising from the eel, when all but swallowed, 

 escaping and falling from the bird in such a manner as to lead persons to believe that 

 it has passed through its body. Its doing so may, indeed, be regarded as an impos- 

 sibility. 



