214 



8 



Cormorants in undisturbed possession. Mr. Benzon informs me that in Denmark it has been 

 found in some localities that the trees have been seriously injured by the excrements of both 

 the Herons and the Cormorants, and consequently the owners of the woods where they have taken 

 up their abode for the purpose of nidification do all they can to drive them away ; but, he adds, 

 they usually return again, and it takes two or three years to get quite rid of them. The Heron 

 rarely breeds except in company ; but now and then a solitary nest is to be found. Mr. Carl 

 Sachse informs me that he found a pair breeding quite alone, about six miles from Altenkirchen, 

 last year. The nest was placed in a lofty oak close to the river, and on the 25th April contained 

 five strongly incubated eggs, which he took. He tells me that he has often known the Raven 

 to rob the nests of the Heron, and when a lad he frequently procured eggs by dispossessing the 

 Ravens of their ill-gotten booty. "At Dolle, near Magdeburg," he writes, "there was a large 

 heronry in a wood belonging to the Emperor of Germany, situated about two [German] miles 

 from the Elbe. When we visited this heronry, and the Herons flew away, the Ravens imme- 

 diately pounced down and commenced to rob the nests, taking possession of the eggs, and flying 

 down to the ground with them to devour the contents ; but by running quickly towards the 

 Ravens they would take flight, leaving their booty for us to take possession of." 



With us in England the heronries are now seldom very large ; and one of the most nume- 

 rously populated appears to be that at Costessey, referred to by Mr. Stevenson, which in 1866 

 contained about sixty nests. In France, however, according to Messrs. Degland and Gerbe, at 

 least one very large heronry still exists at Champignal, on a property belonging to the Sainte- 

 Suzanne family. According to M. Lescuyer de Saint-Dizier this heronry contained in 1864 one 

 hundred and seventy-two nests within the area of one hectare, the total number of Herons in 

 the colony, both old and young, being estimated at about a thousand. He climbed into one 

 tree which contained eight nests, in which were altogether twenty-eight young ; thus the popula- 

 tion of that tree, including the parents, was forty-four Herons. 



I am indebted to Mr. J. J. Dalgleish for the following information respecting the heronry 

 at Ardnamurchan above referred to : — "This heronry is situated on the face of a cliff about four 

 miles south of the well-known and stormy Point of Ardnamurchan. The nests are placed about 

 80 feet from the base of the cliff, which at this point is covered with thick ivy, in the interstices 

 of which the nests are in many instances placed. The Herons have lately changed their ground 

 to a point a little distant from the original one, where they are secure from the predatory visits 

 of boys, who used to reach some of the lower nests by climbing. Their new place is too high for 

 this. The eggs are generally laid here early in May, while the young birds are still to be seen at 

 the nests as late as the end of July and even in August. There are two other localities in 

 Ardnamurchan where single pairs breed on rocks; and there are also heronries at Kinloch- 

 moidart and in Lochshiell, Invemesshire, and at Ards in the Island of Mull, all in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Ardnamurchan." 



The eggs of the present species are uniform pale blue in colour, sometimes with small 

 white chalky spots here and there, and, if scratched with the nail, the shell is found to have a 

 peculiar chalky texture. In size eggs in my collection average 2^ by lf^ inch, and are oval in 

 shape, tapering somewhat at each end. 



As the male or male and young have generally been figured, I have deemed it best to figure 



