180 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



exception of the Green Heron, every British species has 

 been reported from Devonshire, only one of them being 

 doubtful. 



Heron. Ardea chierea, Linn. 



[Heme, Erne, Crane : Dev.; Heronsliaw.] 



Ptesidcnt, and tolerably nnmerous, but rather local in its distribution. 

 Frequents the estuaries of our larg-er livers, inland ponds and streams, 

 and occasionally the bogs on Dartmoor. Breeds in March and April in 

 the breeding-stations, or heronries (termed " craneries " in South Devon, 

 Herons being often called " Cranes "), in various parts of the county, 

 of which we append a list. These are seldom very far from the sea- 

 coast, as the birds instinctively select their home within an easy flight of 

 localities where their food may be obtained with the greatest ease and 

 safety. 



The favourite quarry of the old falconers, because of the courage with 

 which it would climb the heavens in a ringing flight — ardea petit ardua 

 — in its efforts to shake off the pursuing Falcons, and for this reason in 

 old times a bird for whose preservation the game-laws were strictly 

 enforced. The Grey Heron, or " Heronshaw," as it was anciently termed, 

 is still fairly numerous in most ])arts of the county, in spite of the annual 

 decrease in the area of fen-lands and the removal of that special pro- 

 tection to which we have referred : nor is it likely ever to become a 

 rare bird, for it is so wary that it is well able to take care of itself, and 

 the brooks and sands afford it plenty of food. 



On the sands in the estuary of the Teign in South Devon we have counted 

 as many as thirty at one time feeding at low-water, and the late Mr. 

 Gatcombe observed a similar number on the mudbanks of the Hiver 

 Tamar, near Warlcigh, on 4th November, 1876. Herons are equally 

 plentiful along the beautiful banks of the Dart, and on the Kingsbridge 

 estuary, as also on the sandy reaches of the Taw and Toi'ridge, and are 

 numerous on the shores of the Bristol Channel from Minehead eastwards. 

 On the Exe estuary thirteen is the largest number we have seen at one 

 time. 



Often of a summer's evening the harsh cry of the Heron mav be heard 

 as he passes overhead with heavy beat of wing on his way to some brcok, 

 where, after a long-continued drought, the poaching fellow does con- 

 siderable mischief among the fish, and, if there be a moon, pursues his 

 sport all through the night. Besides small fish and eels he eagerly 

 devours frogs, water-voles, mice, and rats. AVhcn fl3--fishing we have 

 sometimes come close upon a Heron napping after a hearty meal of trout 

 or frogs, and once succeeded in getting our line round the neck of one 

 extra somnolent, but after a struggle or two, fearing for our top-joint, we 

 let the bird go free. 



Young Herons are by no means to be despised for the table, their 



