90 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



of which is serrated on the edge, the better to retain the fish. The bill is long and sharp, having 

 towards the point serratures which stand backward ; these, after the prey are struck, act like the barb 

 of a fish-hook, in detaining it till the bird has time to seize it with its claws. Its broad, large and 

 concave wings are of great use in enabling it to carry its load to the nest, which is sometimes at a great 

 distance. Dr. Derham tells us, that he has seen lying scattered under the trees of a large heronry, 

 fishes many inches in length, which must have been conveyed by the birds from the distance of several 

 miles; and D' Acre Barret, Esq., the owner of the herony, saw a' large eel that had been conveyed 

 thither by one of them, notwithstanding the inconvenience that it must have experienced from the fish 

 writhing and twisting about. 



One of the largest heronries in the country is at present in the park of Lord Darnley, at Cobham, 

 in Kent ; but the destructive habits of these birds, not only in regard to the trees on which they have 

 fixed their residence, but also to the gradual exhaustion of the fish in the neighbouring ponds, render 

 them by no means an acquisition. 



In regard to the immediate subject now under discussion, the rarity of it renders all knowledge of 

 its peculiar habits exceedingly difficult of attainment. To form a just estimate of the nature or 

 character of an animal in a state of captivity cannot rationally be expected, nor does it fall within the 

 sphere of those to whom the animal belongs to make themselves intimately acquainted with the natural 

 history of the different specimens which they have to exhibit. It is only, therefore, by investigation 

 and research into antecedent authoriiies that we are able to arrive at any accurate knowledge of 

 the natural history of animals ; and when we take into our consideration the numerous obstacles and 

 difficulties which present themselves to the naturalist in his examination of the nature and habits of 

 the scarcer subjects of the animal kingdom, our surprise need not be great at the many inconsistencies, 

 and falsifications which exhibit themselves in the delineations of different naturalists, and which are 

 received as actually true on the authority of the name of some celebrated and scientific man. We 

 find ourselves thus situated in the description of the natural history of the bird now under our discus- 

 sion ; neither Edwards, Pennant, nor any of the other celebrated ornithologists of this country — nor 

 in Buffon, nor in the Supplement edited by Lesson, do we meet with any enlarged detail of the 

 habits or character of this bird. We are simply instructed in its classification, but of its mode of 

 life, economy, instinct or disposition, very little indeed has been transmitted to us. Of the origin of 

 its name, the night-heron, which would seem to imply that it is a nocturnal bird, we have not any 

 thing in the construction of its eye which would lead us to suppose that it was able to obtain its food 

 during the night ; and the very objects on which it is generally in search for its subsistence, contradict 

 the hypothesis that its habits assimilate in the least to the strix genus. 



The body of this heron is very small, and, like all others of its tribe, exceedingly lean ; the skin is 

 said to be scarcely thicker than what is called gold-beaters' skin. It is most probable that this bird is 

 capable of long abstinence, as its usual food consists of fish, and reptiles which cannot at all times 

 be had. Its food, in its present state, is fish and meat, which it takes from a little reservoir of water 

 placed in its cage for that purpose. 



