74 BIRDS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE 



triumph when he returns from chasing the discomfited 

 kestrel or sparrow-hawk (whom I have never seen attempt 

 to turn on him) are extremely comical — young Jack 

 the Giant Killer sounding his penny whistle. 



One day I spent the morning and afternoon exploring 

 the vale of Avalon, that fiat, grassy plain, intersected 

 by dykes with rows of pollarded willows and starred 

 and lined with clumps of poplar and elm and hedges 

 of elderberry and thorn. I sat down on the river 

 bank, and a party of five crows came sauntering by, 

 so mentally alert, so deceptively casual, a thing you 

 hardly ever see in the country — only in London. Then 

 out of the misty blue a heron came sweeping and circling 

 round, flying low nearly over my head. No sooner had 

 he passed the elms whither the crows had retired, 

 than out they leaped at him, for all the world as though 

 they had laid an ambush for him. He quickened his 

 flight and rose, but they, beating their wings rapidly 

 and in great excitement, climbed above him and made 

 stoops at him. His royalty was not so much alarmed 

 as disconcerted, and not so much disconcerted as incon- 

 venienced. He gave a load squawk of annoyance, 

 stretched out his neck, made a half-turn and pursued 

 his course with redoubled speed, the crows pelting after 

 him in vain and then giving up the chase. The crows, 

 I am certain, were worrying him out of pure mischief, 

 and looked like urchins of the air beside him. Then, 

 to my surprise, down came the heron into the paddock 

 of a farm, and after walking about under some willows, 

 like a mimsy among the borogroves, settled down 

 comfortably to rest. Some minutes after his mate 

 appeared from the same direction, and the same incident 

 was precisely repeated, half-turn, thrust out neck, harsh, 

 powerful cry, pursuit and all. The second heron caught 

 sight of her mate, and holding her vans rigid, circled 

 about fifty feet above him. He craned out his neck, 

 followed the course of his mate, and then climbed upon 

 his legs and took off after her, being instantly trans- 

 formed from fantasticalness to grandeur. I was told 

 that being of no " use," the herons of this district are 

 greatly persecuted, and will soon be extirpated unless 

 something is done to save them. 



