THE HERON. 115 



Method of seizing a fish. 



iny. His method is to wade as far as he can go 

 into the water, and there patiently wait the ap- 

 proach of his prey ; into which, when it comes 

 within his sight, he darts his bill with inevitable 

 aim. Willoughby says he has seen a heron that 

 had no fewer than seventeen carp in his belly at 

 once; these he would digest in six or seven 

 hours, and then go to fishing again. " I have 

 seen a carp (adds that writer) taken out of a he- 

 ron's belly, nine inches and a half long. Some 

 gentlemen who kept tame herons, to try what 

 quantity one of them would eat in a day, have 

 put several smaller roach and dace in a tub ; and 

 they have found him eat fifty in a day, one day 

 with another. In this manner a single heron 

 will destroy fifteen hundred store carp in a single 

 half year." 



This bird, though he usually takes his prey by 

 wading into the water, frequently also catches it 

 while on wing : but this is only in shallow waters, 

 where he is able to dart with more certainty than 

 in the deeps ; for in this case, though the fish 

 does, at the first sight of its enemy, descend, yet 

 the heron, with his long bill and legs, instantly 

 pins it to the bottom, and thus'seizes it securely. 

 In this manner, after having been seen with its 

 long neck for a minute under water, he will rise 

 upon the wing with a trout or an eel struggling 

 in his bill. The greedy bird, however, flies to 

 the shore, scarcely gives it time to expire^ bui 



VOL. iv. NO. 2,5. P 



