THE HERON. 1 19 



Nature/ remarks of the heron : — " Armed as it appears for war, 

 it is indolent and cowardly, and even flies at the approach of a 

 sparrowhawk. It was once the amusement of the great to pursue 

 this timorous creature with the falcon." The heron, however, 

 appears in a different light in the following note of a scene wit- 

 nessed through a telescope by an accurate observer living on the 

 shore of Belfast bay. A herring gull having caught an eel of 

 about a pound weight, showed evidently by its mamier that it did 

 not well know what to do with so large a " quarry." Two more 

 of its species having joined the captor, the three together appeared 

 quite perplexed; which, being perceived by a great black -backed 

 gull, he flew to the spot, and the others took their departure, 

 leaving the prey behind, but kept looking back from a respectful 

 distance. The Larus marinus, standing on the same spot all the 

 while, with great dignity struck the eel on the head twice or 

 thrice, and with a long pause between each blow. A heron per- 

 ceiving what was going on now appeared on the scene — in an 

 instant made the eel its own, and swallowed it. When this bird 

 arrived, the great gull walked majestically off to the distance of 

 a few paces, arched Ins neck, and stood, the picture of offended 

 majesty. Being the king of his own tribe upon our coasts, 

 why should he not, like other potentates, take umbrage at such 

 an act of spoliation ! It will be seen in the next section, that 

 the heron, in a domestic state, is the reverse of cowardly. 



Herons in Confinement. 



Mr. E. Davis remarks : — " I have frequently had herons in confine- 

 ment, and been much amused at their behaviour. Old birds generally 

 refuse food. I always fed them per force, and then tied up their bills 

 to keep them from disgorging, at which they are quite adepts. Even 

 when in some degree tamed, and become free feeders, if you frighten or 

 approach them closely soon after a meal, down goes the bill to the 

 ground, and the contents of the crop are displayed to view in an in- 

 stant ; though if you walk away you find that, like the dog described 

 in scripture, they ' return to then vomit again.' This they will con- 

 tinue to do with the same meal as often as you like to cause it." 



