120 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



It is when the Heron is on the ground that he 

 uses his bill if he has the chance to do it ; and this 

 with fatal effect at times. The accounts that have 

 been given of his turning his bill up when in the 

 air, bayonet fashion, for the Falcon to impale on, are 

 ridiculous fables. 



They do not kill Herons now when hawking, for 

 this reason — heronries are scarce, few and far 

 between: if they killed them when captured, they 

 would very soon have none to fly at. As it is, they 

 are only got at under favourable circumstances, good 

 trained falcons being rather costly creatures ; if one 

 is killed by a stroke from a Heron there is a direct 

 monetary loss, quite putting on one side the regret 

 of losing a dashing and very intelligent companion. 



A bird of versatile ability is our Heron, quite at 

 home in the trees, where he glides over the limbs 

 and branches like a grey shadow; a very favourite 

 perch of his as a look-out station is the top of some 

 high fir, where he perches as securely as a Starling. 

 I have seen him take the water like a duck. It 

 does not matter to him where he is ; in the trees, in 

 the water, or stalking along the edge of it, out in 

 the middle of a field — not the side of it — or by the 

 tide, he is equally at home. 



He has been credited with killing unlimited 

 quantities of fish. This is not just : small deer that 

 can well be spared form part of his food. Other 

 creatures live in or by the water besides fish, such as 

 water-voles, water-shrews, frogs, and small aquatic 

 birds, and these form part of his food supply. In 



