120 WILD LIFE IN THE TREE TOPS 



anxiety and trouble ; but with a series of the most energetic jerks, accompanied 

 by a strained expression and bulging eyes, he eventually succeeds in his task : 

 the shape of the fish being seen for the last time as it passes down the interior 

 of his slender neck. 



A few words apropos of this peculiarity of regurgitation by young herons 

 may not be out of place here. What prompts them thus to lose their food to 

 no advantage ? Surely it cannot be that the feeling of fear which overcomes 

 them is so violent that it literally sickens them. 



The writer is of the opinion that it is due to an instinctive desire to lighten 

 themselves in case of an emergency flight — and for two reasons. Firstly, it 

 seems that young herons do not disgorge food from fright until they are approach- 

 ing the age at which they will become ' branchers,' that is to say, will be suffi- 

 ciently developed to take short flights to neighbouring branches. 



And secondly, it is a fact well known to Falconers that a Heron ' ringing 

 up ' (rising in the air) before a couple of Falcons, will, in its efforts to lighten 

 itself, and so keep above its pursuers, disgorge any food which may still be 

 undigested. So that in watching such a flight one might expect to see a small 

 shower of — for instance. — fish and shrimps fall from the clouds. 



But this habit will be referred to later, and to return to the nest 

 under discussion, we see that the four young herons, having now sufficiently 

 recovered from the shock of seeing a human being, are all standing upright 

 upon the nest, preening their feathers and stretching their beautiful grey 

 wings. 



One of them suffering apparently from some scalp irritation, stands upon 

 one foot, and for some half a minute scratches the top of his head with the middle 

 toe of the other. They are very busy fitting themselves for the life that lies 

 before them. 



Through another peephole — a little more to the right — we can see the nest 

 which contains eggs, and also the female parent Heron, which in the meantime 

 has returned to her charges. 



She is sitting quite flat, so that the top of her back is only slightly above 

 the level of the edge of the nest, and with her head wedged back between her 

 shoulders. 



What a piercing yellow eye she has ! So round it is, and so severely does 

 it seem to fasten its gaze into the very depths of the peephole, that one feels 

 quite embarrassed at being thus found out whilst playing ' Peeping Tom.' 

 As a matter of fact this is the Heron's normal expression — ^it reminds one 

 somehow of the glassy stare of a snake. 



Occasionally she raises her head — but without the least movement of any 

 other part of her body. — to satisfy herself that a blackbird or rabbit scrabbling 

 about in the leaves below is really nothing to occasion alarm. 



To see her head return to its position between the shoulders is indeed a 



