AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. Ill 



parish of Bulwick, that the greatest number of nests 

 in any one year was about 60, and that the Herons 

 finally gave up nesting in that district about 1873-74. 

 I have good reason to know that the Heronries at 

 Althorp and Milton are well protected and much 

 valued, as they well deserve to be, and I trust that it 

 may be very long before the "old Heronshaw," as 

 the bird is still commonly called by our country- 

 people, becomes a thing of the past. The reaches of 

 our river from Thrapston to Oundle will generally 

 show a Heron or two on any given day in the year, 

 often a score or more, but we have no established 

 Heronry in the immediate neighbourhood of Lilford ; 

 and as the Milton Herons can probably find an 

 abundant supply of food for their broods nearer home, 

 I presume that the few that are to be met with 

 during the nesting-season near our house are old 

 bachelors or widows. The Heron is an early breeder, 

 frequently commencing to lay in February, and as 

 a rule sitting hard by the middle of March. A 

 populous Heronry very closely resembles a Rookery 

 in the materials of the nests, the usual, but by no 

 means invariable, height of the selected trees, and 

 the incessant clamour of the birds, the principal 

 difference being the larger size of the Herons' nests 

 and the overw^helming aroma of rotten fish-remains ; 

 the eggs, of which four is the average complement, 

 are of a fine greenish blue. A second brood is said 

 to be often reared [cf. Yarrell, 4th ed. vol. iv. 

 p. 164) ; by the end of April the young of the first 

 brood are well on the wing, and in June are often to 

 be met with on independent fishing- expeditions at 

 long distances from home. With us at Lilford 

 certain trees are selected year after year as the 



