THE PADDY -BIRD. 16S 



are flying, unlike most other long-necked birda 

 and fchey mostly fly with the same easy regular stroke 

 of the wings, which, in the case of the bigger species 

 is much quicker than it looks. Twice I have timed 

 the wing-strokes of the big grey heron {Ardea cinerea) 

 at home, and both times found them to be two to 

 every second. 



They build, too, the same style of nest, a miserable 

 platform of sticks or other convenient material, 

 generally in a tree, like the Paddy-bird, and the eggs 

 are usually light blue like hers. It is their difference 

 from other birds that makes herons so striking and 

 interesting ; their usually silent undemonstrative 

 ways, stiff, persistent attitudes, and the strange 

 contrast of their bustle and clamour where they 

 congregate, make them attract every one's attention 

 wherever they are found. Also, though far less 

 graceful in form than many other water-birds, they 

 have the fatal gift of beauty in the form of filmy 

 feathers they bear on their backs as wedding 

 garments; which, in the trade, have somehow got the 

 absurd name of " ospreys." For these the poor birds 

 are ruthlessly shot down, though this has not been 

 done so much in India as in America, where the 

 valuable white-plumed species have been terribly 

 persecuted — and most cruelly, as they carry these 

 plumes all the while they are rearing young. It is 



