98 HERON. 



little in the day, and not roused without difficulty ; flies slowly, and 

 frequently alights again at no great distance, hence is easily shot. 

 In the evening it becomes more alert, and is often seen to soar aloft 

 in a spiral manner, till quite out of sight, making at the same time 

 a singular noise; it has also another noise, like that of a bellowing 

 bull; beginning in February, and ceasing after breeding time; but 

 this is made while the bird is on the ground. The bellowing noise 

 is supposed to arise from a loose membrane, which can be filled with 

 air, and exploded at pleasure, the situation of it is at the divarica- 

 tion of the windpipe, is capable of great distention, and is probably 

 the cause of this singular phenomenon ; observed we believe in no 

 other bird, at least in the same degree.* We have had no opportunity 

 ourselves of witnessing this, but are informed by Dr. Lamb, that on 

 dissecting a female, he observed, that after the trachea had passed 

 into the thorax, to the lower part of the sternum, it was reflected to 

 the superior portion of the latter, and then on a second reflection 

 divided, and passed into the lungs. If attacked by men, or dogs, 

 it defends itself obstinately, drawing in its head between the shoul- 

 ders, and in a moment darting it out to its utmost extent, always 

 aiming at the eyes; and we have heard of one instance wherein a 

 person, in attempting to secure one that he had shot, received so 

 severe a blow in the eye from the sharp beak, as to destroy the use 

 of it. The food is frogs, mice, and other reptiles, swallowing them 

 whole, as well as fish, f and in the stomach of one was also found 

 several warty lizards, perfect, besides the remains of several toads, 

 or frogs, probably taken out of the mud, in shallow water, in the 



* Willughby talks of this membrane, but not its probable use. The Rev. Mr. Ward, 

 in his Natural History of Birds, Vol. iii. 150, mentions this circumstance ; and I have 

 been assured, that by filling the trachea with air after death, and exploding it again sud- 

 denly, a similar noise will be produced.* 



f I once found two middle sized trouts whole in the stomach of a Bittern ; and on another 

 occasion, Dr. Lamb found in the stomach of one an undigested Reed Bunting. 



* Some compare this to the noise of beating on the head of an empty cask. 



