446 



The Living Animals of the World 



for food for tlieir young daring tlie daytime. They breed in colonies, in bushes or low trees 

 in the neighbourhood of swain[js. In some places tliey are jirotected — as, for instance, round 

 the Great Honam Temple at Canton, where these birds are held sacred. 



Colonel Swinlioe, says Mr. Howard Saunders, describes the nests "as jolaced thickly in 

 some venerable banyans, the granite slabs that form the i)avement beneath the trees being 

 bedaubed with the droppings of old and young, while from the nests arose the chattering cry 

 of the callow broods, for which the parent birds were catering the whole clay long, becoming 

 more active at sunset. As darkness set in, the noise and hubbub from the trees rose to a 

 fearful pitch." 



In Hungary large numljers of herons and egrets breed together in the marshes, egrets 

 and night-herons breeding together with the common and purple herons. Landbeek, an 

 enthusiastic ornithologist, writes of such heronries : " The clamour in these breeding-places is 

 so tremendous and singular in its character as ahnost to defy description ; it must be heard 



before a person can form any idea of what 

 it is like. At a distance these hideous 

 noises blend with a confused roar, so as in 

 some way to resemble the hubbub caused 

 liy a party of drunken Hungarian peasants ; 

 and it is only on a nearer approach the 

 separate notes of the two species, the common 

 and the night-heron, can be distinguished 

 — namely. ' craik ' and ' quack,' to which 

 the notes of the young, ' zek-zek-zek,' . 

 in different keys, serve as an accompani- 

 ment. When close to, the noise is tremen- 

 dous and tlie stench unbearable. This, 

 together with the sight of dozens of 3'oung 

 herons in every stage of putrefaction and 

 teeming with maggots, is perfectly sicken- 

 ing, though the contemplation of life and 

 movement in this immense heronry is a 

 matter of interest to the true ornithologist. 

 . . The tojis of the highest trees are 

 Usually occupied by the nests of the common 

 heron ; a little lower down is the habitation 

 of the shy and beautiful Ctreat Egret, while 

 in the forks of the lowest branches the night-heron takes up her abode. All these species 

 build in one and tlie sanre tree, tlie nests numbering not infrequently as many as fifteen in a 

 single tree, and yet peace invariably reigns amongst all these varieties. High over the trees 

 appears the common heron, laden with booty, announcing his arrival with a hoarse ' craaich,' 

 when, clianging his note to a goose-like 'da-da-da-da,' he either jerks the provender down the 

 throats of the ever-hungry youngsters or throws it up liefore them, when the fish are greedily 

 s-vvallowed, amid a desperate accompaniment of ' gohe-c-e-e. gohe-e-e-e,' a sound much resembling 

 the frantic cry of a calf which is being lifted into a fu-nier"s nrarket-cart. The conduct of the 

 more cauti.nis egret is very different. Circling far above the nest, she first satisfies herself 

 that no foe is hidden below before slie alights among her family, which are much quieter and 

 less hasty than their cousins. Tlie night-herons, on the contrary, approach their nests from all 

 sides, liigh and low, their crops filled with frogs, fish, and insects. A deep ' quak ' or 

 'gowek' announces the arriMil of the old bird already from some distance, to which the young 

 answer, while feeding, with a note resembling 'queht, queht,' or ' quehaoalieh, quehoehah. As 

 soon as the parents have taken tlieir departure tlie youngsters recommence their concert, and 

 trom every nest uninterrupted cries of 'tzik, tzik, tzik, tzek-tzek, tzek,' and ' gett, gett-gett,' are 



i'hoto hi/ ir. p. I)a,::b,, 1- X.h J 



BUFF-BACKED HEEOX. 



This Ijird hnbitiLilly picks insects from the backs of cattle. 



^licrjcat'i Park. 



