6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



places were carefully protected. During the reign of Edward I., its price was 

 higher than that of any other wild fowl. It was long esteemed as an article of 

 food, and the nestlings are very delicate eating. Till some fifty years ago, 

 heronries were held almost sacred, and there seems to have been a superstitious 

 fear of disturbing them. Lord Teignmouth, in his "Reminiscences," says, " I found 

 the ancient Castle of Damaway, in Moray, tottering in the estimate of superstitious 

 neighbours who prognosticated ill as a consequence of the seeming departure of 

 the Herons." 



Heronries are most frequently found on high trees : but the birds choose also 

 low shrubs, ruins, and also, as at Ardnamurchan, the sea-cli£f. Occasionally they 

 select even a bare hill side. The old nest is repaired year after year, and birds 

 have been known to return to the same heronry for twenty seasons in succession. 

 The nest is a large structure, in which the eggs look very inconspicuous. 

 It is composed of sticks, and lined with birch twigs, or turf and moss. The 

 construction of the edifice is thus described by Mr. Barrett Hamilton. 

 " One bird (presumably the female) stands on the nest, while the other goes 

 away and collects sticks. These he brings in his mouth, and gives to his mate. 

 The sticks are gathered on the ground, sometimes close to the tree in which is 

 the nest, sometimes several hundred yards away. All sorts of sticks are collected. 

 On approaching the nest, the male, who is evidently very proud of his home and 

 his mate, usually utters some loud croaks, at the same time straightening himself 

 out in the air, and on alighting he sticks his crest bolt upright, all of which is 

 no doubt for the delectation of the hen-bird. She gets up on her legs, which 

 have been tucked in under her on the nest, takes the stick from him, and arranges 

 it. Then after a few minutes spent in preening his feathers, the cock goes off 

 again, and the same routine is gone through. Apparently the male continues to 

 bring sticks after incubation has commenced. Herons seem to make love to each 

 other on their nesting trees, and I have seen the male caressing the female on the 

 nest. The nests are far from conspicuous for such large structures, even when 

 the hen-bird is sitting, unless she shows the white part of her head. During 

 incubation I have seen the birds change places on the eggs very neatly. One 

 bird approached the nest, and just before it arrived, the other who was sitting on 

 the eggs, glided off and left ; the whole thing was done so quietly that it was 

 almost as inconspicuous as if one bird had merely flown over the nest." 



The common Heron lays three to five eggs, chalky in texture, varying in 

 size between 2 and 2 J inches long, by ij to if inches in breadth. They are of a 

 greenish-blue colour, and some are slightly paler than others. They are generally 

 laid in March in England, but in very mild seasons eggs have been found in 



